Sword Art Online: The Brotherhood
by Gelmra
Summary: With the advancement of the Story comes the introduction of the Crossed Swords Arc. An arc in which Gabriel and The rest of the Brotherhood enter a full-scale duel tournament with the Crossed Swords, ultimately hindering the progress of The-Brotherhood and will result in the assimilation of one guild into the other.
1. Prologue

**_A/N: _****So I watched the first couple episodes of Sword Art Online and also could not help but notice the lack of Fan-fictions. So I... The-Obsidian will grant you all a story of Epicosity and Awesome.**

* * *

Sword Art Online: The Brotherhood

**Introduction: The Year is 2025 and the grand release of one of the most anticipated games of the century. The Release of Sword Art Online this game is activated via nerve-gear and a hard copy that installs the game into your NerveGear. The NerveGear is a device that controls your brains sensory parts ranging from, sight, touch, smell, hearing, and even taste. This process also pretty much deactivates your body. Putting you in something of a comatose state until the user logs out. Today is the day that Gabriel, Older brother of Keita and Canadian born citizen, bought two hard-copies of the game and was first in line three days prior to the launch. He ate nothing, he drank nothing, he did nothing for three days straight. Standing right in front of the doors for some time. He only got the second copy because he was first in line and rewarded with an extra copy for his younger brother.**

The grand launch of one of the greatest video games of all time, and it wasn't even being launched in North America, and especially not Canada. The feeling was heart-wrenching. However, he learned Japanese in the matter of a year or two. Still, it was far from perfect.

"Oniichan?" His brother called to him, and the North American teen carefully set the bulky helmet on his nightstand, there was still a couple hours to launch, after some thought he was surprised that he could get his hands on one of ten-thousand copies of this game. Perhaps it was destiny.

"Yes?" He slowly turned his head to face Keita who was standing with his arms crossed while leaning against the door frame.

"What're you going to specialize in, on the inside of the game?" He asked his older brother.

"What am I gonna specialize in squirt?" He grinned, and laid down on his bed. Against the opposite wall from Keita. "I dunno." He said and rested his arms behind his head for a few moments.

"You should eat before you start playing." Keita stated, he was honestly concerned for his older brother's well-being.

Gabriel, changed the subject as he realized this, because he didn't want little Keita to feel worried. "Hey, what's your username gonna be?" He asked, and patted his little Keita on the head. He was a whole head taller than him.

His little brother's cheeks turned a slight red, he didn't know. "Keita." He mumbled.

"And you're going to play as a character slightly taller than your own?" He asked with a smirk and ruffled his little Keita's hair. Interestingly, Keita had been a beta-tester, and Gabriel hadn't. So his little brother had a little more experience in Sword Art Online than him because of that, but it was Keita's first time, and Gabriel was an experienced MMORPG Player, but this was his first VRMMORPG.

Keita brushed Gabriel's hand off the top of his head. "Oniichan? Did you zone out again?" The boy asked Gabriel, who suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.

"Yeah... sorry Keita, I have a lot to think about." He said, ruffling Keita's hair again. He brushed past the his little Keita to go downstairs and order pizza.

After a couple of minutes, Keita followed him. The activation of the server wasn't for another two hours, at 1:00PM. So pizza sounded nice.

After a couple of minutes though, Keita peaked his head around the corner, and looked at Gabriel patiently sitting at the table, his hands were folded and his posture was as perfect as always. "Oniichan?" Keita asked, and Gabriel slowly turned his head towards his little brother, wearing the same passive expression as always.

"Yes, Keita?" He asked, his voice was so sad. He was never happy.

"I'm mad at you!" Keita raised his voice, and stomped his feet.

Gabriel instantly felt like he just died because his heart skipped a beat, and he felt his eyes get warmer. "What?!" He exclaimed, and nearly started to hyperventilate. Instead he sucked in a deep breath. "Why?" He asked.

Keita started giggling. "Calm down Oniichan." He was wearing a giddy grin. "You forgot to pick me up from school for the last three days." His smile got even brighter. Which, to a person like Gabriel seemed impossible.

"Oh sorry, I heard about how you 'really really really really really really really' wanted to play Sword Art Online with your big brother, and despite the game being extremely expensive and wallet-thinning, they said that whoever gets to be first in line gets a free set of the Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online Game." He said, with a slight smirk. Now a little calmer.

"I am happy, and I know what you did, you already told me earlier today when I first got home!" Keita started laughing and lunged at Gabriel. He wrapped his arms tightly around his Oniichan, and also dug his cheek into his chest. The heart of his Oniichan was pounding. "I love you Oniichan!" Keita exclaimed, and Keita started sobbing hysterically because he was so happy. "You're the best!"

For the first time since Keita's parents died, Gabriel got all choked up and smiled slightly. As he did this, he hugged his little Keita back and despite how much he wanted to look like he didn't care about anything, he couldn't resist his eyes getting all watery


	2. Chapter 1: Unveiling

Chapter One: Unveiling

Gabriel sat quietly, staring at the T.V. instead of wanting to be the first in the game to get at the top of the leaderboards and have the best stats like in most MMOs that he'd played before... he wanted to see the launch parties on the News Channel, but Keita decided to just run off upstairs and start playing a little earlier, he made Gabriel promise that he'd be in the game by Six. He couldn't break that promise, but still. The Japanese News reporter that was on air right now looked kind of inexperienced. She was exhibiting too much emotion on her face, she was trying to keep her cool. He could tell just by her eyes that she'd been crying and was still on the verge of tears. So something was wrong.

"Breaking n-news." Good god. Her voice was trembling. "R-recent reports are coming in regards to the Safety of Sword Art Online. Due to an in game bug, players are not allowed to log out or get out of the game in any way, and removal of the NerveGear will result in death to the user, a hundred have been reported dead by parents trying to remove the NerveGear when supper was finished. Currently... ambulances are being dispatched across the city, but before they arrive at your homes, we ask that you do not remove the NerveGear. Death is caused by Microwave radiation that fries the brain of the user, resulting in either a permanent coma or instant death." Tears were streaming down her face, and he understood immediately. "To all those parents out there, do not lose faith... reported by GameMaster Kayaba Akihiko, he has taken it upon himself to send a message to the players stating that if they clear all one-hundred levels of the game and defeat the final boss... the game will automatically log players out." She broke down and started sobbing uncontrollably. With that the screen summoned a broadcast lost signal. Gabriel shut the T.V. off and let out a deep sigh.

"So the game that he wanted to play with me will very well be the death of him. Go figure." He stated and pinched the bridge of his nose and started to think. He didn't remember what it was exactly that woke him up, perhaps the random fly that flew past his ear was what woke him. But when he looked at the time, he found it was already five fourty-seven. "I've decided." He stated and started writing a note:

* * *

**_To: Ambulance Guys_**

**_My little brother logged in at Launch, but unfortunately I had to stay out here and think awhile and have seen the news, so I know the risks of what lies ahead. Basically. I'm going in, and I'll save my brother... and as many people as I can._**

**_I know what you're thinking: 'Does this guy have a deathwish?'_**

**_The answer is no, but I do have a wish to continue living... for my little brother Keita... if he dies, then I die. It's complicated._**

**_P.S. My body is in your hands. ; )_**

* * *

Gabriel smirked slightly as he stood up and made his way to the room which the two of them slept in. He taped the letter on the door and opened it with a creak. Hopefully he wouldn't owe too much money when he got out of that deathtrap.

_I should probably be taking this a little more seriously... but I suppose I am a borderline socio-path after all._

So he laid down and pulled the helmet over his head, calibration commenced, nervous system synchronized, the big letters appeared before his eyes in white on a black background, his real body was now in comatose, until death or until he got back.

* * *

WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE!

"Thanks." Gabriel stated, and checked the time on his HUD: 5:59:57

"Looks like I didn't break my promise. I couldn't live with myself if I did... how ironic though." He mumbled and started accepting terms of use... after reading them all of course.


	3. Chapter 2: Kirito

Chapter Two: Kirito

"Hey, you, are you insane?!"

Gabriel quickly turned his head in a snap of a motion to stare at the man with a diabolical grin on his face. "AND IF I AM?!"

"Eh... heh..." He laughed nervously and backed off a few steps... then started running like a bat outta hell.

Gabriel smirked slightly and checked his surroundings. Display stated that this was Floor One: Town of Beginnings and also a Safe area in which nobody could have their HP lowered. So why the guy was scared was beyond Gabriel. Perhaps Gabriel's expression was a little freakier than intended.

"Sorry." He stated and started walking to one of the shops in the central market. There was some information... so he sat for a couple hours reading the free tutorial book for a couple of hours, then he was approached by a single individual. He was wearing basic attire. Leather vest and short sword. Clothing color was primarily blue. "Evening." Gabriel said without looking up.

"So you're one of those MMO players?" The guy asked, and Gabriel simply nodded once.

"I doubt that the information in here is 'completely' reliable, but it's a start so we know the basics about a specific character. If anything the enemies are given stronger equipment given the situation... the game got turned into hardcore mode but instead of your character dying permanently... so do you. It's such a tragedy." Gabriel stated and paused for a moment, to cover his mouth with one hand as he thought. "I'll presume your a Soloer and are going to maximize your overall DPS, whilst maintaining a good regeneration rate?" He turned his eyes away from the book. "You'd also fit into the category of Attack Damage Carry if you were in a party." Gabriel stated and closed the guidebook before it went up into shards of light.

"And you?" The boy asked.

"And me?"

"What are you?"

"I'm known to most MMORPG players as Gabriel." He stated bluntly, and the boys eyes widened with surprise, Gabriel could've swore he saw the twinkle of joy.

"What level are you?" The boy asked.

"One."

He looked like his heart just got ripped out of his chest then thrown on the floor and stomped on. "Just level one... and you've been here the entire time?" The boy asked. It was kinda funny seeing that response.

"No. I just got here... 6PM yesterday." He checked the time again. It was already 1AM.

"So why... did you come here?"

"Why did I come here?" Gabriel crossed his arms and stood up from the crate he'd been sitting on, he thought about it briefly.

"It's complicated."

"All ears."

"Okay, fine. My brother wanted to play this game again, he was a beta-tester you see, but I wanted to see the launch of the game... it was great but a half-hour later a Breaking News Report came on. Stating that removal of NerveGear will result in death. Also stated that there was a way to beat the game, so instead of letting my brother... the only reason for me to exist... stay in this deathtrap by himself and possibly die... I decided to take matters into my own hands..." Gabriel stated, his voice trailed off a bit but he looked at the boy, who suddenly invited him to a party.

He read the invitation...

Kirito invites you to a party.

That name... familiar.

"I'm a fan..." Kirito stated, he tried to hide his emotion, but Gabriel could see it clearly.

"I have... fans?" Gabriel's expression lightened somewhat.

"Yes..." Kirito's cheeks turned to an embarrassed red.

Gabriel's finger hovered over the accept icon, and he noticed Kirito's expression turn to an instant grin. But Gabriel thought for a moment and he completely froze, sitting there in a pose for what felt like an eternity of contemplation... "Yes." He stated and pressed the button.

"YES!" Kirito threw his arms up into the air and Gabriel's expression remained passive. Still, Kirito could clearly see that Gabriel was happy, because his eyes brightened slightly.

"Add me." Gabriel seemed to mumble, and sent Kirito a friend request, after navigating through the various menus. The User Interface aka UI was extraordinary. He noticed Kirito pop up on his friend's list in an instant.

"So... do you want to go farm in the next village?" He asked.

"I don't have a weapon, and I haven't chosen my Style yet." He seemed to mumble.

"So what if you were challenged to a duel?"

"Well. I'd accept, and most likely win." He said with a smile.

"I don't think that's even possible." Kirito looked doubtful as he crossed his arms and turned his head away. He didn't believe Gabriel.

"Well, I guess we're never going to find out... I'm heading to the blacksmith." Gabriel got up and started walking.

"Wait!" Kirito shouted.

"Did you check your inventory?"

_Oh yeah!_

Gabriel opened it and Kirito cautiously peeked over Gabriel's shoulder. "I didn't notice it too much before... but now that I check it out... this one single item takes up 85% of my inventory space. It's so intense." Kirito nodded slightly. "Time to use her." Gabriel clicked on the item and it appeared in his hand. He looked down into the mirror... and his appearance suddenly changed. The white nearly shoulder length hair suddenly appeared, and his entire appearance changed as well. "Crap." He stated. "I figured there was something fishy about the whole calibration sequence and the scanning of my face." He mumbled, and sighed deeply. Pinching the bridge of his nose while he was at it. The mirror shattered as it was used for the first and last time.

"Wow... you're really-" He caught himself short and Gabriel pretended he wasn't about to hear it.

"Let's go!" He shouted and charged off towards the Blacksmith. Dragging Kirito along... no matter how unnecessary it was.

* * *

When they got there... Gabriel slammed through the front door of the nearest building with a grindstone and forge out front. He didn't notice the sign.

"Kama, Sickle, Scythe, anyone of those tools are required immediately." He grunted and calmly walked inside with his half-closed impassive eyes look. The Smith looked at him, and nodded. Quite a smart NPC.

"Got it. But, can you please specify?" He asked.

"Scythe."

"Okay... a Scythe... a farmer's tool?"

Gabriel nodded his head. "Sharpen the blade and make it a weapon. Moderate quality and use of Grindstone. Trade you for my leather vest."

"Trade has been accepted." The NPC Smith stated, and Gabriel's vest suddenly disappeared... apparently his shirt and vest were one item...

"Crap." He stated.

"I have an extra-" Kirito began but was cut off as Gabriel raised a single hand for him to stop.

"I brought this on myself. I'll deal with it." He mumbled, and then the smith began smashing a hammer on the blade... which suddenly formed itself... how simplified. At least we don't have to wait five years in real time, that was an exaggeration.

"Here you are... grindstone is right outside." The smith handed him the new weapon and Gabriel took it. Then placed it in his inventory.

"Why are you using a weapon like that?" Kirito asked.

"Easier to redirect blows and kill MOBs." Gabriel answered just barely turning his head to look at the somewhat infatuated gaze of Kirito. "Am I your Idol?" Gabriel asked.

"I... uhm..."

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to." He stated bluntly.

"Kay, let's go kill some MOBs." Kirito smiled.

"Got it... but I gotta find my little brother soon. I just hope I can find him." Gabriel let out what sounded like a defeated sigh and as he exited the shop. The street was made of stone, and so were the buildings. Despite that fact they still looked far from bland because of the lighting systems of this virtual reality. It was marvelous.

"Gabriel-Sama-"

"What did you just call me?"

"Ah, sorry. Is that too... formal?"

"Yes. Just call me Gabriel."

"Okay."

Gabriel turned his head in resignation of the conversation and looked off towards the direction of the next village... he only hoped he got this right.

"Hey, Gabriel... I was going to say something earlier." Kirito let out what sounded like a groan of impatience. For some reason it made Gabriel let out something that could just barely pass as a chuckle.

"Sorry Kirito, what were you going to say?"

"Does that weapon have any actually skills?"

"Yeah..." He opened the skills tab from the menu, and found that some skills were listed in grey, which meant they weren't available. But some were highlighted in gold. Meaning that they were new skills. These were all weapon skills though...

Kirito's jaw seemed to drop as he peeked over Gabriel's shoulder. His chin was now resting on Gabriel's shoulder. It was a good god sort of thing that seemed to make him lose cons- he fell face first onto the ground.

Gabriel shrugged and walked towards the grindstone to their left and started sharpening his blade... quietly.


	4. Chapter 3:

Chapter Three:

It took some time before Kirito woke up from his apparent involuntary slumber. So instead of carrying Kirito on the road, he rented a room and let the guy sleep for awhile. Meanwhile. He went hunting for boar several hours.

The Ordeal was all slow and boring but after a couple hours of the repetition he finally reached level twelve. Meaning that he'd gained somewhere around 14k XP, and killed about five hundred boar. That was surprising though. Maybe it was because it was early in the morning. Still, after hours of fighting from 1AM to 5AM, he was exhausted. Which was also interesting because he didn't think that he could actually get exhausted while playing a VRMMORPG. Perhaps it was just the whole 'stuck in a virtual reality and most likely going to die' sort of thing.

He yawned tiredly as he walked back to the town. The world's sun was beginning to rise. Gabriel adjusted the scythe on his back then checked his Inventory. Completely freaking full. Drops consisted of boar tusks, boar hides, boar meat and even a bone-sword. The bone-sword had weak stats but it sold for a good price. Which meant that it was supposed to be sold in the first place.

So as Gabriel thought on his way back, he barely noticed the four people following him. Probably waiting for him to pass out, but unfortunately for them. Gabriel put half of his stats in END endurance then split the rest evenly into STR and AGI. Strength and Agility. So he wasn't going to pass out any time soon... or maybe they just wanted to ask him something. So he turned and waved, but then they were gone. "Right." He stated and continued to stalk off back towards the village.

Some time passed before he reached it, but by that time the sun was nearly fully in the sky. It was still a little dark though. "What an uneventful day." He grumbled. "Maybe... nah." He threw the thought into the hypothetical thought recycle bin. When he got to the inn, the place was filled with players and NPC waiters serving food and drink. Mostly alcoholic beverages. They all continued their business when he walked in... but a couple adolescent males turned their heads in curiosity. Gabriel just waved and continued to the room he had rented, he didn't pay any heed to what the hell they were dressed in... at all.

He knocked on the door and it pretty much flung open. "You're back." Kirito stated, standing at the door.

"That I am my good Party-member." Gabriel announced and laughed exaggeratedly. "That wasn't a real laugh. Sorry. Trying to be casual human." Gabriel let out a sigh, and Kirito simply chuckled.

"I used to try to change who I was for the sake of others... but then I turned to MMOs, where I could be whoever I wanted." Kirito mused.

"I know the feeling." Gabriel mumbled and stepped inside the room.

"Did you go hunting?"

"Yeah, came back with a full inventory and a thousand col." He chuckled.

Kirito raised an eyebrow. "Full inventory and a thousand col already?" He asked. He looked surprised.

"Yes. I stopped getting experience after a while, and it was replaced by 25% the amount of XP in Col. So I decided that free money was good enough for me." Gabriel nodded slowly, and started thinking for a moment.

"Then that means you can buy a shirt, equipment and get on our way." Kirito's eyes pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's roll." He mumbled.

The second Gabriel said that, they were off to do something... what it was, was beyond Gabriel. He should've paid attention to what Kirito was saying but all he could think about was getting his little brother out of this Death Game, but where was he anyway?

The time went by in a flash. He had gone to the blacksmith to tan the Hides and raised his own blacksmithing skill to a total of thirty-seven and unlocked the ability to create tier one items. That was leather. So he made some leather outfits and sold those. Raising his barter skill and blacksmith skill even higher than it had been. So now he got prices that were reduced by 2%, and could make tier two items. Copper, and other non precious metals.

Overall, Gabriel earned an extra two-thousand col so he was now at an approximate three-thousand.

Then again... there was also the boar meat and tusks in his inventory. If he was not mistaken the meat could be cooked and used to heal some health and sate the hunger that seemed to be gnashing at his sanity.

So get this, he bought a steel wood ax, and tinderbox. Then started chopping down some trees... and ultimately raised his woodcutting skill.

So he had an inventory full of wood, meat, a tinderbox, and boar tusks... maybe he could throw them.

"Hey." Kirito tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at something in the forest... god it was just lurking there. They both leaned closer as they tried to make out what it was... then the eyes flashed bright red, a resentful and aggravated stare. He didn't know why he felt like it was, but it was.

"Yeah. I had to go buy a pickaxe to mine some copper and tin anyway. Let's go!"

"Wait... it doesn't look very strong."

BLAAARGAAAGHROAAAR!

A gob of something wet and hot hit Kirito's face. "Did... it just spit on me?" His eye started twitching furiously.

"We should not have come out this far..."

The massive creature threw it's head in the air and scraped moss off of the ground. "The thing... name... Matriarch Forest Boar... health bars... three. Each housing nearly 1500 points."

Gabriel didn't know how to describe it but the creature seemed to lumber forward as it raged and went into Berserk mode. "Oh my... GOD!" Gabriel's expression turned to complete and utter horrification, it was one of those moments when you realize that you're about to gun run over.

"Keep doing that!"

"No problem!" Gabriel shouted back towards Kirito without turning a single hair on his head. "Keeping it aggroed!" He laughed suddenly as he heard trees smash behind him, he was getting awarded experience for knocking down trees, but it continuously told him that his inventory space was full. He started laughing as he neared the seventeenth level. Every tree he touched was giving him experience as it was knocked down by the following boar. His Woodcutting level was rising rapidly... fourty... fifty... sixty... "Boar-levelling OP." He laughed and as he was running, he added all his points to agility, until he didn't even have to try to outrun the boar. Then he slipped, and fell on his face. A KO message appeared as he suddenly fell unconscious. He was dead. That was it. Game over.

* * *

Meanwhile... On the alleged opposite side of Floor One:

"Ow." Keita grumbled as he was knocked by a girl's sword, they were in a safe area. So she couldn't do anything except throw him around. It still hurt. "What was that for?" The boy asked, tears welled up in his eyes. He didn't think that somebody would bully him after his first day here. Especially since they were all in this together.

"Give me your money."

"No. I can't." Keita grumbled and the girl suddenly charged another sword skill, he winced but she waited for a few moments. "I could always just buy you something."

She hesitated a moment. "Fine. Buy me something." She spoke quietly and let out an annoyed huff as she put the weapon away.

"Okay." Keita grinned jovially, and got back to his feet. "What do you want?"

"Hungry." She mumbled, and looked down at the ground.

"Oh... then let's go to that tavern." He pointed an ardent finger at a single building which the hooded girl turned a head towards. He noticed the redness in her cheeks.

"No. I think you're not old enough to go in there."

"There's no age limit."

"You're right." She let out a defeated sigh. "Let's go then."

"You know. If you're hungry enough to not go somewhere that there's food... then I don't think you're actually hungry." Keita seemed to mutter. She smacked him on the top of his head. "Ow."

"Shut up."

"My brother never would've done something so mean."

"So you're obviously a spoiled brat."

"No!"

"Yes."

"You wouldn't understand." Keita's constant happiness was soon destroyed by the girl's insults. He averted his eyes and guided her to the tavern. She soon regretted what she said.

When they got into the inn/tavern. It was filled with activity, but they managed to find a table in the back. It was hiding in the shadows, so nobody could really see them. Not like they were focusing on them. "Order whatever you like." Keita lent her a forced smile, but she didn't return the gesture. She just sat there quietly thinking to herself. He knew somebody who was like that.

"So your brother... what kind of person is he?"

Keita grinned. "He's the best. He always picks me up from school, but for the three days before launch... my brother decided to wait outside the store for the whole three days just so he'd be the first in line... a lot of people got there before him... but they couldn't stand still for long and had to use the bathroom and eat food, or drink water... but even on the hot sunny day, followed by the windy day and finally the dark and gloomy rainy day. My brother stood outside... but he didn't pick me up from school... still that was because I told him I 'really really really really really really really' wanted to play this game with him." Keita started giggling.

"He sounds like he loves you very much."

Keita's cheeks turned red, and he smiled, letting out a single affectionate chuckle. "I'm sure you'd like him if you met him." Keita stated.

"Maybe." A waiter appeared in Keita's peripheral vision.

"Hello, sir and ma'am. I'll be taking your orders for tonight. Have you decided what you want?"

"I want boar meat and lot's of potatoes!" Keita started giggling again.

"I... want what he's having." She mumbled and sounded embarrassed.

"Oh yeah... to drink... can I have... something that tastes like sweet juice, that has those sparkles?"

"Me too!" The girl exclaimed, and the waiter nodded with a smile.

"Understood... we'll be right back. It should take about thirty seconds to acquire your food. Apologies for the inconvenience." The waiter bowed and excused himself, leaving Keita sitting there, smiling contently.

"You're a copycat!" Keita laughed at the girl.

"Am not!"

Keita laughed. "Okay..." He said and extended an arm. She copied the gesture. "I'm Keita."

"I'm Asuna." She smiled slightly and shook his hand.

"You wanna be friends?" Keita asked.

"Sure... as long as you keep buying me food." A smile tugged at the sides of her mouth, and Keita just grinned.

"No problem..."


	5. Chapter 4: Gabriel

Chapter Four:

The waiter returned and carefully set both plates down in front of the two conversing solo players. Keita was the first to eat, right after saying thank you to the NPC Waiter, Asuna followed soon after, with nothing more than smile.

"Does your brother treat you well?" Asuna asked suddenly, and Keita beamed with pride instantly.

"Well… it's kind of a long story. I'm not actually related to my oniichan by blood, but we are siblings… he's an exchange student from North America." Keita stated with a slight smile as he got more focused and into the story. Asuna's eyes widened and she was already taken in by the whole ordeal.

"So, he was one of the world's greatest MMO players but then… he heard about games and stuff like that exclusive to Japan. Which were never released in North America. Naturally, as one of the best gamers ever… Gabriel became an exchange student and learned how to speak and understand Japanese." Keita took a sip of his drink and closed his eyes tightly at the feeling of the sparkles, and the ultra-sweet juice. He liked it but the sparkly stuff kind of hurt. "Anyways. The first year he got here, he smiled all the time and was genuinely interested in our family and traditions, but the stuff he learned was cut short after the tragedy happened…" Keita paused for a moment and tried to blink the hot feeling away. "My parents died and Gabriel's parents tried to call him home."

"That's awful… I'm sorry."

"Don't worry… I can handle it.." Keita smiled and the tears welled-up in his eyes.

"So… what did he do?" Asuna tried not to look too excited, but Keita grinned.

"He told his mom that he'd stay here and take care of me… he even got a job, and pays for the majority of the expenses of our house… his mom sends him money sometimes too when we're not: 'in good shape' as he'd say." Keita smiled then looked down again, this story made him feel somewhat at war with himself. "But I wasn't always happy… sometimes I was sad and my Oniichan always asked what was bothering me… I always told him the same thing… I miss my mom and dad."

Asuna also had tears welling up in her eyes this time. "He's such a nice guy…"

"He wouldn't agree… and he barely has any friends in the real world." Keita giggled.

"Why not?" She asked, and Keita nearly couldn't stop himself from snickering.

"He's kinda shy..."

She started snickering too.

Keita felt somebody wrap their arms around him. "Don't worry Keita… we're all here for you we'll help you find your brother!" It sounded boyish, but the fabric was smooth and silky against his neck. He could even feel some warm bare-skin… his left eye twitched slightly.

"Asuna… is there… an adolescent boy in a girl's dress trying to comfort me?"

"Y-yes… we're surrounded." Asuna's eyes were wide with horror.

Keita started trembling with discomfort; this guild had just recently started trying to recruit him. The alleged Crossed Swords.

**_A/N: _****Sorry about that. This chapter pretty much just continued chapter four, but I my uploads are gonna be pretty short in length. (Just like a light novel which usually has a chapters shorter than 3000 words... -sigh sigh sigh-)**


	6. Chapter 5: First Month

Chapter Five: First Month

Gabriel groaned, and turned over on his bed but adjusted his weight as he nearly fell over the edge. Now that his beauty sleep had been disturbed... there was no going back. So he slowly sat up with a grunt of effort and yawned exaggeratedly, then finally stretched.

"Breakfast?" Kirito asked with a smirk.

Gabriel nodded slowly. "Did the crossed swords finally leave?"

He seemed to suddenly swallow the bread that was in his mouth without chewing. His pupils constricted and he drank some of his juice. The food was moistened and Kirito cheated death once again. "Y-yes, Yes! They left." He had mumbled at first but then raised his voice and nodded, like he wanted to just leave the conversation at that.

"Good." Gabriel said and Kirito threw him a couple slices of bread and a... can of juice. He caught them all, and he couldn't have done it any more gracefully. One piece of bread locked in his teeth, one into the open hand at his chest and finally he leaned over to his right to catch the terribly thrown juice before it smashed against the wall.

"Nice triple catch." Kirito clapped and Gabriel just grimaced.

"Physical activity... as soon as I wake up... life is so hard..." He nommed on his food and in but a few moments it was all gone. So he advanced to the next stage. His juice.

He popped the can open and gasped with horrification as the ice-cold liquid exploded and sprayed into his face. "WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!" He slammed his fist into the wall and he heard the notification of 'Immortal Object' pop up. He loved and hated how this felt at the same time. The confliction of emotions brought him to tears.

"Come on... lighten up a bit, didn't you come here to... have fun?"

"Yes, I came here to enjoy the first ever VRMMORPG with my little brother... who I can't find." He turned an emotionless face to Kirito. "It might not look like it but I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown." He sucked in a deep breath, then exhaled over a period of an approximate seven seconds.

"Well. Showertime." He mumbled and checked the inventory. "Items... items... items... towel. Use. Items... Items... items... Create new outfit: Black-Iron Greaves of Mobility, Black-Leather shoes, Reinforced Leather armor of the Scythe-Wielder, and finally 'The Hat'" He mumbled and paused for a moment. "Save outfit... and... into the bathroom." He walked over to the room in a few strides and closed the door. Ultimately, this left Kirito alone in the room they had rented.

He looked left and right, two beds, one night stand, four walls and a ceiling. A large window on the wall closest to the street which allowed the sun to shine into this room. So it wasn't that dark in here.

On a more relevant note, Kirito smiled to himself. Gabriel had a funny way with words, he often wondered what went on in the platinum-white haired head of his only friend in this world. He thought of the possibilities. Ranging from girls, to MMOs and then after about fifteen minutes, came to the conclusion that it was Keita. The guy's little brother and what seemed to be his only reason for continuing this life, but was that really true?

Kirito hoped that Gabriel found his little brother, and would do anything to make sure that the both of them escaped safely. The White-haired boy opened the door to the bathroom dressed entirely different than from before. Instead of a nooby leather vest and outfit. The boy was now dressed in awesome black and red leather armor. His face was obscured by a black balaclava and the hair that constantly obscured his eyes was now brushed aside and now... he could see the absolute fury and malice in the boy's amber eyes, bright reddish brown and a gaze that could be considered lethal. His scythe wasn't present though... Kirito could only imagine what the weapon he had could be... but there was an interesting addition to Gabriel's outfit; It was the hat... the black and red hat that matched perfectly with his outfit.

"Ready to go find people to kill the boss?" Kirito nodded quickly... his doubts about this actually being 'The Real Gabriel' were washed away by this new appearance.

"Alright, then let's go!" Gabriel ripped the front door open and descended the steps to the main floor of the inn to find it filled with a lot of activity. People were shoving past each other, guild recruiters and that sort, but there he was. The guy who stood out among the rest and who had also gained the respect of several others in this world. Gabriel gripped the shoulders of some individuals and shoved them out of his way with zero complaint or resistance. "Diabel. Did they beat the boss yet?" He grunted.

"Nope." He mumbled, disheartened.

"How long has it been?" Gabriel sighed.

"About a month... ish." He turned his teal-haired head to face Gabriel and said the last word with some enthusiasm. Like being a day less than a month would help.

"Well... regardless of whether is was a full month or not. I don't want to state the obvious... but this isn't good." Gabriel sighed impatiently.

"Tell me about it." Diabel drank the rest of his alcoholic beverage.

"Okay. I know how to beat the boss. Just gather as many people above level ten as you can and meet at 12PM, 'The Bleachers'." He stated, and patted the guy on the shoulder. He was around level twenty, based on his iron armor and sword. "Focus on Vanguards." He stated. Vanguards were responsible for being excellent shield wielders or mace-users. Knocking back blows from tough enemies like the boss the were going to kill. Kirito and Gabriel would handle the damage dealt to the creature... unless of course there was another person like them involved in this ordeal. The Bleachers were pretty much stone steps and a designated meeting area for Clans or Leagues.

"Got it..." Diabel stated and forced a smile. Gabriel was glad to see the guy still had enough heart to try and make Gabriel feel better about it. That meant he'd do his best.

Kirito tapped his shoulder and smiled slightly. "I may have lied about that... thing from earlier." He reached over Gabriel's shoulder and pointed towards one corner of the room.

"No..." The masked Scythe-wielder sounded absolutely horrified. Like there was something worse than death in this very room. His voice lowered multiple pitches and he sounded like some sort of veteran warrior who had seen far too many battles with this foe. "Let's move. Go go go." He whispered and went incognito. Kirito did the same, equipping a pair of aviators and slicking his hair back with one hand. They were getting too good at this.

Gabriel took the lead, walking out of the in using a completely different walking style from normal. The operation went smoothly, and they evaded the crossed swords yet again.

"Their guild is getting too big... should we put a stop to them?"

Kirito's eyes widened with horror and Gabriel realized what he said. "You mean..."

Gabriel smirked. "If this were an actual video game and they weren't going to die in the real world... I would've said yes, but since this is a death game back up by the fact that they will die in the real world. I meant challenge them to a duel to see who'd win and who'd lose... with terms as well."

"That could go both ways." Kirito let out a breath he had been holding in.

Gabriel smirked. "That's what'll make it fun." He stated, and they just stalked off, Kirito waited a while before he removed the aviators and let his hair fall back into place.

"Do you think we'll make it out of here?" Kirito asked suddenly.

"I don't think."

Kirito scoffed.

"and I don't hope either."

Kirito grinned.

"I know." Gabriel finished and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"If you don't mind me asking... why don't you think or hope we'll make it out of here?" Kirito was still grinning, almost as much as his little brother.

"Because if you think, you're not actually doing anything to make it happen and hope is the first step on the road to disappointment." Gabriel elaborated with a egotistical smirk.

"Ah, I understand." They didn't exchange many other words... but for some reason... what could pass as cockiness or overconfidence made Kirito feel a lot better. Getting out of here no longer felt like a goal... but an eventuality...


	7. Chapter 6: Reunion

Chapter Six: Reunion

"Hey." Gabriel said and lit up like a lightbulb. "I just realized something." He smirked and nearly started laughing.

Kirito simply turned a head to him, and looked utterly confused. "What?"

"I have no idea where we're going." He let out a single chuckle.

Kirito grimaced. "I thought we were going to go contribute to finding other members? Diabel only has three hours... remember?" Kirito sighed and crossed his arms.

"We probably should..." Gabriel got a grasp on his surroundings. They were near the town square. Which contained the Townhall, multiple inns, restaurants, stalls and vendors, a smithy, armor shop, general store, multiple other things along those lines. The sun was fully in the sky, but there was a certain gloomy aura that made him uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the presence of a member of the Laughing Coffin... or worse... the Crossed Swords. His heart skipped a beat as he thought the name... and remembered their appearance. The Horrors.

"Gabriel! Snap out of it... They're not here!" Kirito backhanded him across the face which caused a brief feeling of inflammation but otherwise felt like a numb pinch on the cheek.

"Thanks." Gabriel said, appreciating the effort... Kirito knew all too well how... horrifying it was to Gabriel.

"For some reason... I enjoy it whenever I do that."

"Whips and ch-"

"Shut up." Kirito mumbled.

"Excite you." Gabriel pointed and laughed, but he let his guard down and felt arms wrap around his waist from behind. His expression turned stone-cold and hardened killer in an instant. He gripped an arm that belonged to the individual intruding upon his personal space, ripped foul creature off of him and threw it across the town square as hard as he could, with of course... a graceful spin and utter rage.

"ONIICHAAAAN!" His brother screamed excitedly and he had his arms extended as he flew through the air like a bullet then smashed into an NPC whose health went from Max to zero instantly. Finally Keita crashed into the wall of a building and received an immortal object notification. He fell face first onto the ground and didn't move.

Gabriel gasped and sucked in a deep breath then he started breathing uncontrollably. "Oh. My. God... WHAT HAVE I DONE!?" He looked down at his hands and saw that they were shaking furiously. His vision started to fade to black as he entered a state of shock.

Kirito's jaw dropped.

"KEITA!"

Kirito turned his eyes only to find a shoe belonging to a hooded girl make contact with the back of Gabriel's head. Which seemed to slam into the concrete with such force that Kirito even felt the shockwave push him back a foot... everyone in the town square turned their heads as they jumped with fright, facilitated by the loud noise of... face meeting stone-street.

**_A/N: _Hello individuals. It's been three days since my last update. And that's partly because I've been watching the newest Hunter X Hunter Series. The 2011 Release according to my information.**

**So today I decided. "Hmm... I've only got one follower but I'd hate to be a complete and utter disappointment and just stop posting chapters for this story like most authors do... because we all know how annoying it is to start reading something then just... have the author say. 'SCREW IT. I GOT NOT ATTENTION, TIME TO QUIT.'"**

**Mhm. Sorry about the length of this update though. Only 461 words.**


	8. Chapter 7: Aftermath

Chapter Seven:

The Meeting... The Meeting was quiet... it should be postponed. There was nearly thirty people here, all sitting quietly and looking at Kirito expectantly. He who was sitting in the back trying to avoid attention was obviously chosen to be the center of it. 'What?' He wanted to ask, but the nerves got the better of him. All this attention gave him butterflies in his stomach. 'How would Gabriel do this? What was the secret? Does he just... not care?' Kirito thought apprehensively to himself. 'Wow... I'm such a wreck... what happened to me?'

"Well?" They seemed to ask in unison, a hint of impatience in their voice

"Hm?" Kirito looked at them, confused... did they ask him something?

"WE SAID: You're Gabriel's friend. Shouldn't you have known what his plan was?" They sighed.

"He was going to go over it at the meeting but since... she." He pointed a thumb to his left to gesture at the girl who had smashed Gabriel's face into the ground. "Put him into a Comatose state." He mumbled and let out a deep sigh. Still, the rest of them thought that they had to go on without him and try to think of their own plan... but they could just as easily postpone the meeting, but less people would come because they'd be sick of waiting.

* * *

Meanwhile...

He groaned and rolled, but this time he wasn't fast enough, he was sent crashing to the floor. He groaned even harder and blinked his eyes at the red and blacked shoes hanging over the side of the bed. They were pretty fancy. "Afternoon, oniichan." Keita said with a grin. Gabriel just yawned in response and blinked his eyes a few times. Completely passive.

'How do you apologize for something like this?' Gabriel thought to himself and stared passively at Keita. Who just laughed. "I am apologizing, for throwing you into the side of a building because I thought you were a member of the crossed swords?" He seemed to question himself for saying that. He honestly did not know how to apologize.

"Wait... the crossed swords, so you know who they are?"

"Not something I'm proud of." Gabriel sounded resentful.

"Well... they just so happen to be my friends."

Gabriel's eyes widened with horror. "W-what?"

"They're my friends..." He repeated himself slowly.

"But why?"

"Well... at first they were pretty weird but they're alright once you get to know them." Keita grinned.

Gabriel sighed. "But what about them asking if you want to join their guild 24/7?" Gabriel recalled the terrible memories when his incognito mode didn't work. They always followed him... and when he told one to go away another just replaced them. He wondered how they were even a frontline guild.

"Oh. I just told them no, because I didn't want to join their guild." Keita's smile didn't fade at all. Gabriel wondered how the kid could be so happy all the time.

Gabriel slowly climbed to his feet and started to re-equip his equipment. He wondered how the hell he got out of it in the first place... my god. "Where are we?" Gabriel sighed hard.

"We are... in the room of the inn across the town from the designated meeting place." Keita smiled.

Convenient... for them.

"Well, why did they put us in this of all inns?" He asked.

"Oh the Crossed Swords brought us here" Keita said and grinned.

His eye started to twitch. "They... brought... us... here?" Gabriel asked and heard a sudden knock on the door.

"Enter." Keita stated.

It slowly opened, and Gabriel's expression... it was indescribable... it was like when he got the call that Keita's parents had been killed in an accident. He was dreading every passing second of even laying eyes on them. "Hey." The boy stated. For some reason he didn't make Gabriel's skin crawl.

He had his stuff equipped and wasn't dressed in some sort of freakish attire that made the amber eyes of Gabriel burn with absolute malice. Instead, he tilted his white-haired head out of curiosity.

Keita just gave him a thumbs up... did he misjudge these... no, he didn't. "What do you want?" He asked the person.

"I just came to offer you a position in the crossed swords."

"No." Gabriel held up a hand for him to stop talking right then and there.

"Aw... okay." He looked genuinely disappointed, but Gabriel didn't care. It wasn't like this guy was his little brother Playing an Online Death Game, and it wasn't like this kid looked exactly like Gabriel in the sense that he had the same hair... and it wasn't like their appearances had similarities because they were related by blood. "I also came to tell you that you can leave at any time you want. The crossed swords will cover the expenses for your inn's room.

"Okay, thanks bye!" He laughed and was gone, all that was left was Caleb standing in the room with his hands jammed into his pockets. He smirked.

"I wonder why he doesn't like me." He mumbled and cleared his throat before heading back downstairs to inform his boss.

* * *

"Okay, Majority vote! We're moving out, those who don't want to can stay behind!" Diabel shouted, drew his sword and raised it into the air. To Kirito he looked like a complete idiot because he must've expected that the others would do the same. They didn't.

"H-hey..." He stammered and shuffled on his seat over to the girl who was sitting quietly. "Everyone else already has a full-party. Do you want to team up?" He asked her.

"Sure." She mumbled quietly.

"Great!" Kirito stated more enthusiastically than he would've like to. So he piped down and tried to look as depressed as Gabriel. It wasn't happening. He couldn't keep a straight face whenever he put it like that.

With that, Kirito invited her to a party and she accepted. The list displayed her name: Asuna. That just made him curious, but he knew what to call her in the midst of battle. So they weren't going to be completely teamworkless... he hoped.

Flashback

"Because hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."

end flashback

He knew for a fact that they wouldn't be teamworkless. He'd ask her and get to know her more.

A few hours later...

"You'd think... that... we'd be able... to make it here before the whole ordeal ended."

A notification in the form of a white-envelope surrounded by gold light appeared in front of him. "A PM?" He clicked it, and a message popped up.

* * *

Subject: Hey!

To: Gabriel

From: Kirito

Hey! The meeting has ended if you're awake... they took a majority vote to see who wanted to go without your advice or plan... and we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Asuna and I are going as well, because we're high-level attackers and are the most likely the strongest two in the group.

If you get this on time. Try to be there.

* * *

"Damn it." Gabriel sighed deeply.

"What?" Keita asked, and Gabriel turned his head.

"Oh... sorry I nearly forgot." He released Keita's arm and offered a slight chuckle as an apology.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Oh. My friend sent me a message stating that they didn't hear my plan out... but I still have a chance to be there and tell everyone." Gabriel looked like a seven-year old suddenly, as he crossed his arms and started to sulk. His eyes went dark and hollow. The pupils constricted and he looked betrayed for some reason. "Those fools." He muttered and started walking along... He didn't remember much else of that day.

Meanwhile...

"Good... make sure you tail them." He let out a brief chuckle, and patted Caleb on the shoulder. The one who is considered the Ultimate weapon.


	9. Chapter 8: The Boss Battle Part 1

A/N: And after days of delaying because I'm obviously the worst person to write battle-scenes due to run on sentences! I present to you... the first part of the boss battle against the first boss in the anime... not sure if it is in the manga or light-novel... BUT HERE IT IS!

* * *

Chapter Eight: THE BOSS BATTLE PART I!

The Boss-room was damp and cold, condensation was all over the stone walls and Kirito watched as Asuna visibly shivered. "I don't like this place..." Kirito mumbled quietly. Something smelled bitter in here, like rotting fish. Was that it's breath?

The Creature growled quietly, and two eyes filled with the desire to kill stared at the group from the shadows. Then two of it's guard lunged from this shadows, wearing armor and wielding a sword. They were tough. Level ten each. "Get ready!" Diabel shouted and the Kobolds dove for the frontline. Kirito heard more... behind them!

"Diabel! Behind us!" Kirito shouted.

"You handle them!" He shouted and without even looking, Diabel redirected a Kobold guard's sword out of the way with a single slash. He then stabbed the creature and it went up in pixelated light. The death was always pretty, except when you were witnessing one of your friends die. He wouldn't know but he could only imagine how that felt.

"Well this whole thing escalated pretty quickly!" Kirito growled as he redirected a Kobold's sword and then stabbed it in the chest. It died in the same shower of pixels as the one Diabel killed.

Still, more were on the way. At this rate, exhaustion levels will rise and so will the wills. This was pretty unfair, because the Kobolds had a near infinite number of lives... and they were also pretty strong. So farming them was out of the question. There was a high risk of death.

"Charge!" Diabel shouted and pointed his sword at the Kobold King... what is he thinking, what if somebody dies?

The king knocked the vanguards with ease utilizing it's buckler as a blunt weapon. The vanguards were no match and smashed into the walls on either side of the room. Luckily nobody was killed.

A flash of purple surrounding a massive mace zipped by in Kirito's peripheral vision and the Kobold king turned it's attention to strike the newest arrival. The large dark-skinned man smashed mace against blade, causing knockback to the Kobold king. "Switch!" He shouted and that's when diabel charged forward, letting out a battlecry. He charged his sword skill and slashed across the abdomen of the beast. Causing approximately a quarter of the beast's top health bar to lower. Agil and the vanguards started bashing the creature with their maces, shouting with enthusiasm. But the Kobold Guards ambushed a few of them from behind. Providing the Kobold King with an opening. It used it, and slashed three vanguards across the backs when they turned to react.

Kirito tried to swallow but he suddenly felt cold. The Dark-skinned mace-user or... Agil as his name stated smashed his mace into the leg of the creature and finally... Kirito collapsed to his knees and vomited. He had to save them... but how could he... he couldn't think of anything he could do to help.

-Flashback-

"Because if you think... you're not actually doing anything to make it happen."

-end flashback-

Kirito wiped his mouth with his sleeve and got back to his feet, the boss was near death but now after Kirito let his guard down a Kobold lunge at him with it's blade... and Kirito just closed his eyes. Accepting death.

The sound of sword meeting flesh and bone echoed throughout the empty room... then there was blackness.


	10. Chapter 9: The Boss Battle Part II

Chapter Nine: The Boss Battle Part II

"He feinted?" Gabriel asked, a kobold guard sword was stabbed directly through his stomach and he looked down at it. The blade just barely scratched Kirito. "This... actually kind of hurts." Gabriel grumbled and pulled the blade out of his chest. His health was gradually decreasing but he healed faster than he was losing health. The benefits of being an insanely higher level than these kobolds.

"Keita!" Gabriel shouted, and his little brother slashed the Kobold wielding the sword. It exploded in pixelated light. He could easily win one on one vs. these Kobolds, but against them all. Their DPS was far higher than his, and they'd do more damage to him than he could regenerate overall. He was most worried about the others who'd been injured. "Diabel! What's the status of the injured!?" Gabriel demanded as he gripped the handle of his scythe and took a few steps away from Kirito.

"I uh- they... alive!"

"How alive, damn it!" He charged his scythe and made activated crescent moon as more Kobolds gathered to surround him. The were all instantly chopped completely in half, a semi-circle.

"They're all red, but trying to avoid the Kobolds and damage." He grunted.

"Call everyone off!"

"What?! We can't abandon the mission now! We almost killed it!" Diabel completely disregarded what Gabriel said and charged towards the boss... completely alone. He charged his sword skill but as the boss changed stances, Diabel was sliced completely in half, red pixel blood went everywhere, and Gabriel winced as Diabel exploded in a mass of white. Without uttering a single word.

"Everyone! Get back... and get out of my way!" Gabriel growled, and everyone complied instantly. He then turned his head to Asuna and Keita. "Keep an eye on him." Gabriel mumbled quietly and charged his scythe. "Soul Reave." He whispered and then he was gone, the boss suddenly exploded into a ball of light. Gabriel stood where the boss used to be, and unequipped his scythe then crossed his arms. He put a pin on the anger and hatred he was feeling.

He turned a head to Keita, Asuna and Kirito. Two of them were standing and watching, while Kirito just laid there. Gabriel just let out a deep sigh as the item list came up. Last-Attack bonus was some sort of coat. Blue and Black. It'd look better on Kirito, there was also a sword with pretty good stats.

Keita looked at Gabriel and started sobbing. Gabriel smiled slightly as he walked back towards his little brother then ruffled his hair. "Somebody died, Oniichan!" He cried even harder then hugged Gabriel.

"Yes... somebody did die, and he didn't follow my instructions... he died trying to beat the boss... and it's my fault for not being more clear about it." He said in an empty voice. Keita didn't like it when he talked like that.

"No! That's not true!" Keita tried to protest but he couldn't find any reason why it wasn't... accidents happen.

"It'll be fine... I swear on my life that I won't let anybody else die... that's why I'm going to form a guild..." Gabriel smiled, he picked that thought out of his hypothetical recycle bin after all (Chap. 3).

Keita looked at him, and his expression brightened slightly, but he knew that they failed to save them all, which is what Gabriel was trying to do... this was the first time Gabriel ever failed to do something. "I never thought you'd actually decide to..." Keita's eyes were wide.

"I want you to head back and keep on leveling up for now. I'll invite you both to the guild once it happens." Gabriel mumbled and patted Keita on the shoulder then slung Kirito over his own. He started walking towards the entrance to the next floor and then waved a hand at Keita and Asuna. They'd be fine. "You'll see me again Keita!" He stated and brought up the friends list, then send a request to Keita, Asuna, and the dark-skinned guy, Agil.

"Wait! Wait right the hell there!" A man shouted at Gabriel.

"It's your fault Diabel's dead now, right?! Well then... you should be brought to justice for facilitating his death." The man stated, but Gabriel just continued walking. He didn't need to pay attention to this man, not now or ever. If you ignored it, it will go away. It wasn't working. He was angry.

"Kill another to justify the death of one?" Gabriel asked and just laughed... he continued to walk... his eyebrow started twitching.


	11. Chapter 10: Depression

Chapter 10: Depression

Gabriel was kinda weirded out by his chosen course of action. Though, it must have been because of how frustrated he was. Diabel's actions were illogical and his reasoning was flawed. Why pin pressure on the party with a majority vote, and then go without the guy that had the no-deaths plan? He often wondered about many things, but he could hardly bear thinking about this. He still couldn't save everyone like he originally wanted to, and that made him feel... incomplete. He didn't know how to react and right now he just wanted to sit down and start crying to himself. But still... Diabel would still be dead and the now unconscious Kirito lay on his shoulder, and he was was alone without support. Walking through the 'after-dungeon' of sorts. So he continued to walk.

"I shouldn't really talk... I made a dumb split-second decision either way. Considering how I spent nearly a month looking for my little brother only to send him off to go and level up after about a month of looking for him." He tried taking his mind off of the death of another human being. "Maybe it's just the fact that I think he'll die if he comes on these adventures of life or death with me... but should I care how he feels about the matter or should I just make him not care and ensure his safety... but wait, what if he gets depressed and ends up jumping?" He voice got more concerned with every passing word and his anxiety levels were increasing. He let out a sigh. "No. He can't do that he doesn't have the ability to be depressed." Gabriel mumbled, in a half-hearted effort to reassure himself.

Shuffle

He jumped with fright as he heard the noise, coming from his left. Then he hated himself for forgetting about Kirito. "So you're awake?" Gabriel forced a nervous smile. A false gesture to ensure that the fact he jumped won't be or wasn't witnessed by some other-worldly eyes... he was just being paranoid... wasn't he?

Kirito groaned in response to his partner-in-crime's question

"Well... how are you feeling?" Gabriel asked, his voice sounded shaky.

"I'm dead... why does it matter?" Kirito asked, he groaned even harder.

Gabriel resisted the urge to start chuckling at this statement. Then he chuckled because of what he was about to say. "You're not dead... you just fainted in combat. I saved your life and we're heading to the next floor.

His body falls even more limp and heavier than it was than it was unconscious. "Why... are you always so frank... I feel... sick..." Kirito grumbled, he sounded somewhat embarrassed but also... there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

Gabriel grinned deviantly and adjusted his hold on Kirito. "Just because..." He chuckled.

Kirito gripped the fabric of Gabriel's outfit as he nearly fell off of his shoulder. "Whatever..." He mumbled, his voice sounded a little brighter than before.

"I'm going to guess that you don't feel like walking." Gabriel smirked.

"No." Kirito mumbled.

"I'm fine with that." Gabriel stated and continued to walk at a casual pace. "You're lighter than my scythe anyways..." He stated, and opened his inventory to check if he had anything to eat. He was starting to get hungry. And maybe it would get rid of the last of his anxiety.

Kirito sighed and let his arms hang, he watched them move back and forth with each movement to pass the time.

"Hey Kirito."

"Hm?"

"You mind if I ask you something?"

He could hear the sudden change in Kirito's voice. "Sure." The black-haired boy tried to hide his own curiosity behind his self-pity and depression.

"When we get out of this place. I would like to meet you in the real world." Gabriel mumbled, his voice dropped several tones.

Kirito didn't take the shock lightly, he rolled off of Gabriel shoulder and vomited on the stone-floor. He held up a finger telling Gabriel to wait for a moment. He just crossed his arms and waited. "You know... that's a pretty mean response to give somebody... especially to a person who took a sword directly through the chest just to save your life." Gabriel muttered.

"Sorry... I was... I was just surprised." Kirito got back to his feet and his light-grey eyes seemed to glow with a newfound sense of joy. It made Gabriel smile.

"Ah!" Kirito said and covered his eyes.

"What?"

"You smiled."

"I did what?" Gabriel asked, and looked at him with a passive expression, all emotion was completely gone in the blink of an eye. He was pretty good at that.

"You know..."

"No I don't." Gabriel stated, jammed his hands into his pockets and started walking quickly towards the exit, he felt his cheeks get warmer with embarrassment. He let his emotions take over... he hated it.

Kirito struggled to keep up. "Oh come on... you didn't even know what I was going to say." Kirito sighed.

"You're such a softy... my little sister could make you cry." Kirito laughed, and Gabriel looked like he just took a blow to the cheek.

He didn't turn his head but he did pull his balaclava up as he continued to walk. "Y-you've got it wrong." He seemed to whisper to himself. Like no louder words would come out. He tried to deny it. "Damn it!" He growled and slammed a fist against the wall. He sulked quietly... after about an hour of walking he finally glanced at Kirito. "I got you something." He grumbled and brought up his inventory, then offered to trade with Kirito. He accepted.

So Gabriel handed over the outfit and sword he got for killing the boss. "It was meant to be yours." Gabriel mumbled dismissively as he accepted the trade and Kirito insta-equipped the new items. The armor looked glorious and Gabriel offered an awestruck thumbs up.

"..." Kirito's eyes were sparkling like... moonstones and he turned his head towards Gabriel. The look frightened him, then Kirito lunged at him.

"ARRRRGH!" Gabriel screamed and ran for the exit.

**_A/N: Lol._**


	12. Chapter 11: The Brotherhood I

Chapter 11: The Brotherhood Part One

A week after Diabel's death.

Kirito laughed at Gabriel, whose cheeks were burning a bright red with complete and utter embarassment. Keita covered his eyes and snickered, peeking through his fingers at the ordeal. At least thirty people turned to have their jaws drop with shock. The two white-haired boys had their cheeks making physical contact. One was grinning with affection, whilst the other was wearing an embarassed grimace. "Caleb..." Gabriel's left eye twitched slightly.

"Hmmm?" The boy asked and turned his eyes to look at his twin, whom copied the action. The first time they saw eye-to-eye in about a year.

"Do you think... that... you could lay off the... stuff a bit?" Gabriel asked, with an uneasy smile.

"Wait! Hold on!" Kirito grinned, "Gabriel, is this your brother?!" He smirked and leaned forward, supporting his head with both hands planted on his chin.

"Yes... nothing to be proud about though..." Gabriel muttered quietly.

Caleb twisted his head and kissed his brother on the cheek then hugged him tightly around the neck. Gabriel couldn't breath... but his pride was at stake here so he took shallow breaths and tried to stay conscious. His left eye automatically twitched. Kirito's light-hearted expression didn't fade, Gabriel could only wonder why.

"Why is that?" Kirito asked Gabriel.

"He... is..." He struggled to get the words out but his vision started to fade to black and he fell face-first onto the table as Caleb let his now unconscious brother go.

"Oh no! Oniichan!" Caleb planted a hand on his brother's shoulder then shook him. He didn't respond.

Keita just giggled... he thought Caleb was funny, and he and his brother were complete opposites.

Gabriel stretched an arm towards his little brother, Keita. "Run..." He croaked and closed his eyes again, he only managed that through sheer will to make sure that Keita survived.

Kirito leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes as he started to think long and hard about which course of action to take. "What was he going to say?"

Caleb beamed, "Well... Gabriel and I used to get along when we were younger... but then something happened."

Kirito nodded slowly, his eyes were still closed. "Go on..."

"Well... let's just say the he started playing video games, and constantly avoided me whenever I asked him if he wanted to go out and do something... After awhile he even started locking his door." Caleb let out a sigh. "Then our dad... you know... one of those stereotypical alcoholics busted down his door and smashed his PC into tiny pieces of trash." Caleb sighed harder. "Gabriel told dad that he hated him, learned Japanese and became and exchange student, eventually went to Japan. At which point he decided that he was going to stay and live with a boy named Keita... at least that's what mom told me... in reality I heard that Keita's parents had... y'know, so Gabriel with his undeniably kind and soft-heart decided to look after Keita, and began thinking of him as a little brother." Caleb's expression darkened slightly at the last part.

"I spent a couple years in depression and really liked it when he'd call... it was always awkward though..." Caleb said and laughed to hide his anxiety.

Kirito's eyes snapped open and he pointed at Caleb. "How, and why are you here?" A question that could easily be deemed completely irrelevant to the whole story that was being told.

"Well... I got this nagging feeling that I needed to learn Japanese so I took some courses... and also. I was a Beta-Tester and I was even able to snag an online copy of the game. Which I just so happened to install onto my NerveGear." Caleb grinned innocently,

Kirito smirked. "You're lying." He stated bluntly.

"No I'm not!" Caleb's cheeks were scarlet in an instant.

"He's lying..." Gabriel grumbled as he slowly sat up.

Kirito nodded once.

Keita raised his eyebrows.

Gabriel frowned slightly.

Caleb swallowed.

"Just kidding, he's telling the truth... he didn't call me 24/7 to ask about my sanity or worry about me at all... and he certainly isn't-" He was cut off as one of Caleb's hands slammed over his mouth. Gabriel just looked at him with a smug look in his eyes.

"That's a secret!" Caleb glared at him, and Gabriel just nodded slowly in response.

Kirito looked at the two, after already having resumed eating his mouth was full with Asuna-Sandwich. "Whats a secret?" His expression was filled with curiosity.

Keita patted Kirito on the shoulder, who just looked at him. "A secret is when two or more different people share information that they are not obliged to share with other people."

Kirito smiled. "Well you're certainly smart Keita... but unfortunately that's not what I meant." He stated wearing a smirk and Keita emitted a disheartened aura then slammed his forehead onto the table.

So, the black-haired member of the group also known as Kirito, slowly turned his head back towards Gabriel and his twin-brother... wait a second, where the hell were they? He turned his head to look back at Keita, who was wearing a grimace as he looked at Kirito. His eyes looked lifeless and dull because of what Kirito had said, he felt kind of bad right now.

Kirito's eyes flicked over to the front as he heard the clanging of metal objects coming from the kitchen, probably pots and pans being disturbed as the two brothers found a quiet place to... He coughed and the food was jettisoned from his mouth. Finally Kirito quickly scrambled to his feet and chased after them.

Keita shivered with disgust, and the youngest of the group was left alone at the table... wiping his face off without any napkins.


	13. Chapter 12: Brotherhood II

A/N: 1000 Views, 3 favs, 5 revies, and 3 followers. I feel so depressed. That means my story sucks. OH WELL. Here's chapter 12. (And no. Caleb isn't gay. He's... -thinks about it for a second- it's a secret.)

Caleb: -lowers gun from back of head-

Chapter Twelve: The Brotherhood Part II

Gabriel held his brother Caleb against the interior of the meatfreezer door, Caleb just glared at him  
and Gabriel let out a deep sigh as he quelled his own anger, he didn't like how Caleb just randomly  
decided to show up, especially here... in Sword Art Online, the deadliest game ever invented by mankind,  
or more specifically Kayabe Akihiko... at least that's what Gabriel thought his name was anyways.

"What?" Caleb asked and forced what looked to be an absolutely innocent grin. He sighed, and the  
only indication that he did was the frosted breath that wrapped Gabriel's face.

"You're weird." Gabriel stated bluntly, because Caleb's breath smelled sweet, like some sort of  
strawberries, he blinked his eyes in an exhibition of involuntary anxiety. "Sorry. I didn't mean that... but  
what the hell are you doing here?" He demanded and stared Caleb directly in the eyes who just  
blinked. "Did you lose your hearing?" He asked after a moment of Caleb just staring passively at him,  
he waved a hand in front of the boy's face.

Caleb's eyes started to water slightly, and Gabriel took a step back to let Caleb go. Honestly  
worried that he might've hurt his own twin-brother's feelings.

Caleb lowered his head, slightly embarassed for once because he didn't really know how to react.  
"That's the first time you've ever openly apologized to me." He smiled slightly and Gabriel's expression  
once again turned to an empty glare. His worries averted for now he opened his mouth to ask his  
brother the question once again, but he stopped because Caleb started to speak, and he wasn't going  
to ask the question again anyways. Caleb's eyes were starting to water.

"You know... ever since you left home. I was kind of bored and all of the friends that we made together  
kind of just... started to stop talking to me." Caleb sniffled and Gabriel offered his sleeve. Caleb  
grasped his brother's wrist without worrying about it and wiped his eyes with Gabriel's sleeve. "Me and  
mom were both worried about you, but I told here everything would be alright every single day,"  
Caleb's voice gradually lowered to a mumble and he handed Gabriel back his arm.

Gabriel just laughed. "That was stupid of me." He stated out loud and stared at his tear-soaked sleeve.  
"Still... I never really considered how you guys felt... after what 'he' said I figured that you all just  
wanted me gone." Gabriel smirked.

Caleb back-handed Gabriel across the face. Who simply felt a stinging sensation and rubbed his cheek,  
emotionally it hurt and made his heart skip a beat because at that moment he realized that he had done  
something that even his own lenient twin brother considered wrong. "Ow." Gabriel, the eldest of the  
twin brothers inhaled deeply and he tried to hide how he was feeling, but the tears rolled down his  
cheeks in an instant. "What the hell was that for?!" He quickly turned his back towards Caleb and  
wiped his eyes as quickly as possible to hide the fact that he had just started crying like a baby.

"Oh... oops... I didn't know what else to do." Caleb just started to snicker, and Gabriel let out a  
despaired sigh.

"It's not funny!" His voice was trembling and so was the breath he let out as he sighed. He once again  
turned towards Caleb. The boy's hair was obscuring the caramelly-golden left eye, but his right was  
still visible. He was also wearing an apologetic expression, and he was having a hard time to keep  
himself from snickering.

"I know! I know!" Caleb exclaimed as he ducked under Gabriel's return back-hand then slid out of the  
headlock only to counter with his very own. "It was just reflex... because you suggested something so  
stupid... you jerk." Caleb chuckled and Gabriel let out a defeated huff, he gave up on trying to get  
revenge on his younger twin. Who just happened to be a lot more... flexible or... nimble than Gabriel.

"You never answered my question..." Gabriel mumbled, his voice was muffled because Caleb didn't let go  
of him, and his mouth was dug into Caleb's sleeve.

"Hm? Oh the one about why I'm here? I like this game... and I got it on release, I originally expected to  
find you, but it never happened. Then these guys called the crossed swords just came out of nowhere  
and recruited me," Caleb let out a sigh as though he was reminiscing about the past month as though it  
were the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. Which was exactly the opposite of how Gabriel  
felt about the matter. Considering how their lives were at stake and they could die at any moment  
whenever they stepped foot outside of a safe-area.

"...I see." Gabriel mumbled doubtfully

"Hey... Oniichan?"

"Yeah?" Gabriel asked.

"You realized that this meatfreezer has an automatic lock on it's door right? Meaning that it can only  
be opened or unlocked from the outside."

Gabriel's eyes widened with horror and he started shivering out of pure reflex. He wasn't actually  
cold yet but he slowly turned his head towards the door, then got up on his tippy-toes to peek out of  
it's single window. He found a horrifyingly expressionless face staring blankly into the room as though  
he was waiting... or looking for something, then when Gabriel could actually see inside the window, the  
eyes of the not quite completely seeable face snapped downwards and locked onto Gabriel. Who just  
let out a yelp and jumped back in fright in response. The door suddenly let out a hiss and steam ross  
as a figure in black-clothing stepped into the room, sword undrawn. Kirito let out a sigh. "Man... you  
guys should know better than to have a secret-bro meeting in a meat-freezer. People are going to  
start making bad jokes about it. Come on let's go," Kirito rubbed the back of his neck and took  
another bite out of his sandwich.

"Thanks, Kirito." Gabriel and his brother mumbled in unison as they walked out of the room.

In the meantime...

Keita grumbled incoherently to himself about how rude it was to talk with your mouth full and what's  
more... spray chewed sandwich on the face of a nine-year old after making him feel bad after trying to  
help. It might've been immature. "Oh my gosh! Keita, what happened?" He couldn't open his eyes because  
they were burning with hotsauce, but he knew that voice.

He reached out for it and tears streamed from his eyes. "Kirito... did this to me." He sniffled.

"What? Kirito?!" Asuna's sounded angry now, good. At least Keita won't die knowing that he wouldn't  
be avenged. "How could he do something so cruel?! I never thought he was a bully." Asuna wiped Keita's  
face with a towel. He didn't say anything more, he didn't feel like it.

"Hey guys." The trio of olders sat down at the table and Gabriel just glanced at Keita, then at Kirito. The Glare of Gabriel was directed at Kirito, it asked; 'did you do that?' Of course, Gabriel was referring to the hotsauce and nasty food that was being wiped off of his little brother's face by Asuna. Kirito just looked up at the ceiling and thought about it for a moment.

"I may have... when I went go get you guys." Kirito looked guilty

"There! All done!" Asuna said and Keita looked as good as new, but the feeling must've been scarring, and Keita would likely never forget the horror he witnessed today. She then looked at Gabriel who was still rubbing his cheek after taking a backhand across the face from his own brother... "What happened to you?" She asked him directly and he just smiled. "I slipped and fell." He stated and stopped rubbing his cheek.

"I pimp-slapped him." Caleb snickered.

"Shut up." Gabriel grumbled and was too embarassed to look anybody face to face, so he pulled up his balaclava and looked at each member of the group. They were all currently in the same party and their names and health bars were displayed to the left of his vision. "I want to ask you guys something." He stated.

"Really? Take off the facemask then." Kirito winked.

Gabriel sighed deeply, and took the mask off. At which point he closed his eyes. "We've got enough money to start a guild and establish an HQ." He spoke nonchalantly and crossed his arms. "but as for our first order of business..." Gabriel opened his eyes and turned to Kirito. "Do you think you could apologize to Keita?" He asked the black-haired and Grey-eyed teen.

"Oh.. yeah!" Kirito turned to Keita who looked kind of down and depressed.

"Sorry, about that Keita. That was pretty mean of me... but I had some strange thoughts pop in my head and went to make sure nothing was wrong." Kirito glanced at Keita and sighed deeply.

Keita just looked at him with bloodshot eyes, while wearing a grimace. Tears strolled down his face. "Don't worry, it's fine!" He laughed angrily and crossed his arms and blinked his eyes furiously. "I have... hotsauce in my eyes... ONIICHAN! HELP!" He rubbed his eyes as he tried to rid of this irritation and constant burning feeling.

"Dear god... Somebody get some water!" Gabriel got up from his seat and turned to find a large man in armor with a bucket.

"You got it!" He shouted and threw the water directly at Gabriel's face, who just inhaled deeply and tensed his shoulders. The ice-cold water chilled him down to the bone, he started shivering furiously.

"N-n-n-not me! D-d-damn i-it!" Gabriel growled then pointed at his brother. "Him!"

The man in armor looked dumbstruck for a moment. "Hwuh? Oh..." He grinned and tossed the bucket aside. "Sorry about that!"

"ONIICHAN!" Gabriel turned his head towards Keita who was now rolling on the floor covering his eyes.

"Stop it! Stop that!" Gabriel tried to grab him but with every effort made, Keita just rolled out of the way, completely preventing him from lending any assistance. "Keita! Stop it!" The boy just bowled through people and Gabriel just let out a deep sigh.

"Asuna, Kirito... and you too Yukikaze bōi," Gabriel stated and grinned at Caleb. "Let's get him!" They all charged in unison towards Keita who just rolled outside. Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "He has pretty good coordination. The hotsauce won't be an easy target."

Kirito nodded slowly. "Let me handle this!" Kirito shouted and let out an enraged battle cry, he drew his sword and charged a skill... then he ripped through the side of the inn, the entire side wall was completely destroyed. "Good god..." Gabriel stated, the cold breeze of the outside air sent chills crawling up his spine. What got him good... was why there was no immortal object notification.


	14. Chapter 13: Brotherhood III

Chapter Thirteen: The Brotherhood Part III

Kirito took a step outside and held Gabriel's little brother Keita in place by stabbing into the fabric of the boy's shirt with his large and abnormally heavy sword. He kneeled down, opened his inventory and selected medicinal eyedrops in his list. He had no idea what effect they'd have but if they were medicinal, then they were obviously meant to heal something that was ruining your ability to use your eyes. So he held open Keita's eyes and dropped two drops in each, and the boy just blinked continuously. He tried to turn his head away but Kirito squeezed his cheeks and held him in place. Then he closed his eyes... so Kirito held them open with the ring finger and pinky whilst holding the eyedrops with his index finger and thumb. It felt awkward, but he managed to get the job done.

Keita let out a relieved sigh and smiled once again. "Thanks Kirito..." He mumbled, sounding relieved.

"No problem, Kei-chan." He grinned and patted Keita on the head. "It's the least I could do... after that. I'm sorry Keita, I acted before I thought." He apologized honestly.

Kirito grunted with effort as he made to get up, but a loud crack rang out throughout the alley as Knee met face and Kirito grunted. "Ow." He stated, and the owner looked at him, angrily. "What was that for?" The boy asked, completely oblivious to what he had done.

Gabriel sighed as he stepped through the floaitng doorframe, he opened the door and closed it behind him as he stepped through. "Keita... you're okay now?" He asked, his brow was twitching with frustration he was desperately trying to hide, meanwhile Keita and Kirito looked kind of Giddy and they just both started laughing at him, Gabriel was completely soaked with water that was pretty much at freezing temperature.

His brow twitched harder and he clenched his jaw. "Not funny." He said with dark look in his eyes as he opened them then stalked off. Meanwhile, the inn owner just smiled smugly as he turned his head to Kirito.

Gabriel left them at that, and heard footsteps following him after a few moments. He wondered who it could've possibly been, so he turned and groaned. "Ca-Asuna" He corrected himself as he turned just to find her... the girl Keita had been partners with while he was busy running away from the crossed swords and running around leveling up for the past month-ish.

"Gabriel-san." She said, and the suffix made him smirk.

"Just call me Gabriel... not like we're strangers." He stated bluntly and waited for her to continue speaking.

"Oh... okay." She responded and fiddled with her fingers. He rose an eyebrow slightly, and also shivered as the next breeze came to pass.

"Did you need something?" He tilted his head out of curiosity, and tried to ignore the irritation he was feeling.

"Well... you know Kirito better than anybody right?" She asked, and he nodded his head slightly. "Do you know what his favorite-"

"Hotsauce. It's his new favorite, because you're the one who made it." He stated and waved then started to leave. "His favorite color is black, or grey." He added after a few steps, dismissing the rest of the conversation, in secret his mouth tugged at the sides and became a slight smile of contentness.

"Oh... is that a smile I see?" his annoying little twin brother asked, and as Gabriel opened his eyes he found his brother leaning in close to his face, his eyes were at lip level and he was staring intently. Gabriel just grabbed him by the face and guided him to stand at his side.

"Come on Caleb... quit being so... close." He stated.

"Come on Gabriel... quit being so... distant." Caleb mocked and stuck his tongue out at his brother, who just let his head hang, and he let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine." He lifted his head then turned to Caleb and stood closer. He tightly wrapped an arm around his brother's neck, who just took in shallow breaths to act like he wasn't being choked at all.

They walked for another few minutes until they came to the Guild Hall. A place for naming and creating Guilds. Then there was a message that popped up.

[Enter with founders...]

He crossed his arms then turned to look for Kirito, Keita and Asuna. He hoped they weren't in trouble.

[But as we all know... hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.]


	15. Chapter 14: Brotherhood Final!

Chapter Fourteen: Brotherhood Final

Gabriel sighed reminiscently as he remembered-

**_THWACK!_**

"Ow," Gabriel stated as Caleb smacked him on the back of the head with his palm. "What now?"

Caleb beamed, his eyes were closed and his teeth were white and well-taken care of. Good, he managed to get that much in his head while I was gone. He never used to brush his teeth.

"You were daydreaming again." He whispered.

"Oh yeah... right, I'm supposed to give a heartfelt and inspiring speech to all of you." Gabriel stated as he looked outwards from the podium, scanning left and right in quite simply... a short amount of time. It looked like there was about a hundred people who wanted to be apart of his guild, Keita, Caleb, Asuna, and Kirito not-included.

He was glad about yesterday... the trio had been okay after all, the Inn-owner had finished talking to the trio when he and Caleb had gotten back. that was then they decided to head to the guild hall together. The five of them, the founders of The-Brotherhood.

He sighed deeply and glanced at Kirito, and Keita standing to his left. they gave him a thumbs up simultaneously, to his right, Caleb and Asuna just smiled at him. He returned the emotion, though not without hesitation, he put his heart into the emotion this time and Caleb's eyes just widened with surprise, and the more emotional and younger of the two quickly rubbed his watering eyes using the sleeve of his no less than fancy outfit. At this point, Gabriel turned to face the various different players who all seemed to have the utmost respect for Gabriel. Their current emotions were currently all mixed and matchded but almost all of them displayed a semblance of faith in Gabriel.

"Listen well, players. Yesterday and over a week after clearing the boss with casualties the plan was assured and we acquired enough cash to build a Guild HQ, therefore. We are all officially inviting you to join our Guild. Contribute with your own medium of exchange and skills if you will, but our purpose is to beat the game and save the rest of the players from perishing in this world... and as well all know, the longer we remain in this world. The worse state in which our bodies are when we get out of here." Gabriel stated and jammed his hands into his pockets. He had his Scythe on his back today and most of the members were staring at him in complete awe. "The level requirement to join this guild is at least ten, and you are expected to gain at least one level in any skill, every day." He added after a brief moment of thought then continued to contemplate, but then he stopped himself before he paused for too long, Kirito said to not do that last night... while they were getting ready for the meeting. "Unless of course you have already maxed out a skill." He stated bluntly and slowly scanned the crowd. Their reactions... Gabriel wasn't sure how to describe their reactions but he could say that they were almost literally at the edge of their seats because they were listening to their idol, Gabriel a well-known MMORPG player who was scheduled to make a report on Sword Art Online after playing it... it never happened. "That's pretty much covering the introduction... now allow me to go over the three basic rules. 1. No Reckless behavior, and never go alone." He paused and turned his head to Caleb. "This guy came up with rule number 2. No infighting, and try to maintain at least some form of relationship with the rest of the guild." Gabriel let out a sigh. "And most importantly... under no circumstances are any of you to decline a request or order from one of the founders... and our first Order... which is permanent... never kill another player unless in self-defense. This rule is not exploitable and we have eyes... everywhere." He grinned and with that, several men in black robes quickly left the vicinity. He could only assume that they were members of the Laughing Coffin. None of them looked back. The rest of the members let out what sounded like a relieved sigh, and he couldn't blame them. The laughing coffin members were just a bunch of psychopaths who killed players in the game. Also known as Player-Killers or PKers

"One more thing before we move on to the questions... we'll now introduce our Founders." Gabriel stated. "As you all know. I'm Gabriel. The Mastermind. The one who looks exactly like me, save for the hair covering eye... is my twin-brother. Caleb, he's responsible for defensive offense... how does that make sense you ask? Smashing blows aside and the sort. Defensive formations. He's also the Guild Guidance Counselor." Gabriel smirked at the last part. "The one to his right is Asuna. You will address her as Combat-Trainer Asuna unless she requests otherwise. She's responsible for training you all in offensive combat, and training the others how to cook properly while out in the field." He stated bluntly, and then raised his left arm to gesture to the two, who were becoming more alike every hour... especially after the whole Hotsauce incident. "Those two, black-hair and grey eyed individuals are my little brother Keita and my good friend... Kirito. These two will be in charge of raid-training and small-party operations... listen well to what they have to say." He raised his voice and finally, crossed his arms.

"Questions?" Caleb asked with a grin, and there were none... "Oh, well then come to our HQ and fill out an application later today. We'll be opening at approximately... 5 PM." Caleb, along with the rest of the founders waved at their audience. Who just started clapping and offered their support. Gabriel smirked and bowed his head. The Founding of The Brotherhood has been completed...

* * *

**A/N: That's the end of the Brotherhood Vol. 1**  
**Now, I can't say that I'm impressed by the story I wrote, but we all know that the continuation will be released sometime soon.**


	16. Chapter 15: The Next Step

**Sword Art Online: Brotherhood Vol. 2**

**Chapter 15**  
**Six Months have past since the release of Sword Art Online, a game that allowed players to [Full-Dive] into a virtually reality, during this time the user's body is inactive as the [Nerve-Gear] takes control of the user's five senses. after the first month a guild to dwarf all other guilds was founded and over the course of six months of being trapped within SAO, has cleared the first fixty-six levels... This Guild is known as: The Brotherhood.**

* * *

"Oniichan..." Keita groaned as Gabriel patted the head and ruffled the black hair of his little brother, as he went to sit down in the seat right next to Keita's.

"What?" Gabriel asked, an innocent expression was on his face as he sat in his chair then folded his hands on the table. He was acting completely clueless again. They were all sitting at the round table meeting of the Founders. Gabriel admitted that he felt like he had a pretty big job in terms of freeing the rest of the gamers from this world. Sadly nearly two-thousand died in the first six months. He only hoped that the numbers wouldn't keep rising at such an excessively high rate, but knew that it would be pointless. There would always be the people like Diabel... eager and pure of intent but falling prey to an opponent just too tough for them.

"You always treat me like a little baby..." Keita mumbled depressedly and Kirito let out a heartfelt chuckle.

Gabriel in the meantime offered a slight smirk. "Sorry... guess I'm acting more like..." He stopped himself short and averted his eyes for a moment. Looking at Caleb, who was sitting to his left, slumped in the chair and sitting without regard for posture.

Caleb stuck out his tongue. "A dad, than your Oniichan!" He laughed loudly as he finished his Oniichan's setence for him. Gabriel took the liberty and intitiative to apply the palm of his hand to his face in complete and utter embarassment, and after only a few eternal moments of hiding his smile because of how well Caleb knew him and how right he was, he looked back at Keita, whose eyes were watering, the boy's cheeks were red and he smiled slightly.

Gabriel suddenly cleared his throat, and pulled up his face mask once again, then tilted his hat downwards to cover his eyes. "Let's get to the... bottom of the reason why we're having this meeting-" Gabriel was cut off suddenly and he unequipped his hat then pulled down the mask premptively, believing they would just tell him to get rid of them.

"We're going to throw a party!" Caleb threw his arms in the air ecstatically, and laughed even more. He was psyched.

Gabriel sighed deeply, "I have no idea how you got to that conclusion but no... we're not going to throw a p-"

"Hold on... hold on! How about we put it to a vote amongst the founders? Majority wins," Caleb grinned.

The more serious of the twin's brow twitched slightly. "Alright... fine, those who want a party hands up," They all put their hands up silmutaneously. Gabriel let out a deep sigh and slowly nodded his head. "Caleb, and the rest of you... see to the arrangements... but especially Caleb," He stated bluntly and Caleb had this smug and diabolical grin on his face as Gabriel said that... the intent was clear, how could his own brother do such a thing?

"You're not just gonna sit around in your chair or room gaming... not this time."

Gabriel gave him the passive and unimpressed look.

Caleb's eyes suddenly started to water and he wiped the tears with his sleeve. "Do you have any idea how hard me and mom tried to get you to come home-"

"Alright! I'll do it, just tell me how and what to do!" Gabriel gritted his teeth and Caleb started laughing his eyes widened with some sort of horror suddenly and he looked up. "Look! Gullible is written on the ceiling." Caleb said and pointed ardently at a specific spot on the ceiling, Kirito and Keita both looked up in instant response.

"Where?!" They both exclaimed and Gabriel just covered his mouth as he tried to stop himself from snickering. He failed.

Caleb just laughed outright. "Okay," He changed the subject, "I think it's time we went over the party planning..." Caleb looked like an antagonist when he said that... at least to Gabriel. He was acting like it was his secret weapon.

"Caleb... are you hiding something?" Gabriel asked suddenly.

He just laughed, nervously. "What do you mean?" he asked, and as he did, the smile he wore gradually began to fade.

Gabriel just shook his head. "Never mind." He stated bluntly and crossed his arms as he listened to the plan for the party.

Caleb just turned his head to look at the rest of the Founders, he smiled brightly. "Who has any ideas?" He asked, with a slight grin, nobody replied at first but he nodded slightly. "Well for starters we'll go with music." Caleb smiled slightly.

Keita raised his hand. "Dancing!" He exclaimed.

Kirito also raised his hand, "Dueling!"

Asuna stood up and slammed her palms onto the table. "Chicken racing!"

Gabriel sighed deeply. "Fancy-outfit duels." He stated bluntly.

Caleb just looked at him with a big grin on his face.

They went over a couple things other than that, but that was the majority of the planning... Gabriel hated planning.

They would be playing 'hardcore and awesome music that makes people feel the vibes whether they want to or not,' Gabriel hated music.  
They would be dancing to said music that makes people feel the vibes whether they want to or not. Gabriel hated dancing.  
They would be partaking in the art of chicken races that make people feel the vibe. Gabriel hated chicken races.  
They would be dressing in fancy outfits that also make people feel the vibe. Gabriel hated fancy outfits.  
They would be sparring with swords only in the main dueling room of the guild headquarters. Gabriel hated Swords.  
They would be training the children how to defend themselves and use swordskills in the event of being endangered. Gabriel hated children.  
They would be drinking alcoholic beverages in a virtual reality that could cause psychological harm to us in the real work. Gabriel hated Alcohol.  
They would be doing all sorts of extra activites not worth listing on their own. Gabriel hated miscellanious.  
They would be having an open party in which everyone except red-players and orange players were invited. Gabriel hated open parties.

Caleb smacked him on the shoulder and the rest of the founders walked out of the meeting room. "You'll love it!" Caleb chimed and seemed to glide across the floor and out of the room. Gabriel doubted he'd like any aspect of the party whatsoever but he adjusted his outfit to take his mind off of it. At least he had time to practice... he cleared his throat and closed his mind so as no other thoughts would escape to the outside world... where otherworldy eyes might exist to read his thoughts... he was just being paranoid wasn't he?

Gabriel sighed and he exited the room as well, to return to his own quarters to practice his dancing abilities...


	17. Chapter 16: Duel of Duels I

Chapter Sixteen: The Duel of All Duels

Keita threw his arms up in the air as he won another chicken raise. He turned around and hugged his Oniichan out of pure excitement, who just patted him on the head and let out what sounded like a sigh. Keita wasn't exactly one hundred-percent sure but he had a pretty good idea of how his brother felt at the moment. Keita let go of his Oniichan and then guided him back to the table he and the other founders had sat at. "Oniichaaan." Keita called to his brother who slumped into his chair and nearly started snoring, his eyes snapped open and he looked at Keita with tired and half-closed eyes.

"Hm?" Gabriel asked, and Keita smiled again his Oniichan was just very tired... and Keita could only wonder why.

"You seem awfully tired for somebody who never gets tired."

Gabriel just nodded slowly, "Good observation Keita." Gabriel stated and continued to nod his head slowly. Keita sighed deeply, he must have forgot that he was nodding.

"Oniichan. Somebody challenged you to a dance battle!" Keita screamed and slammed the palms of his hands on the table causing it to shake and Gabriel's face fell off of his hand that had supported his head, which was being supported by his elbow. Which had ultimately been supported by the table.

SMACK!

Gabriel's face made contact with the table and he suddenly gasped for air as he sat up straight and looked as though nothing had happened. "Where is the guy?! I'll show him a thing or two!" He slammed a closed fist on the table and the sound of his fist clobbering the table and him shouting caused everyone to turn their heads instantaneously. The music suddenly cut out and Gabriel squinted his eyes as he scanned the crowd.

Then a member garbed in pink and purple clothing stepped forth with a rapier. "I, Lord Uraniwa challenge you to a duel!"

"I accept!" Gabriel threw his hands in the air and walked straight up into the man's face. "Crossed Sword." He growled, displaying more emotion than usual.

"Don't you want to hear the conditions? No Scythe, for you." He stated, "The duel begins now."

"You think I need a scythe to beat the likes of you?!" Gabriel pushed against the man's chest with the palm of his hand, and sent himself gliding back across the floor a few feet.

The man's face was amusing to Keita he screamed with outrage as Gabriel deemed him an inferior opponent, who just sat and watched quietly. "Wow! Wow! Wow! I gotta see this!" Kirito shoved past the crowd and Keita turned his head to find him push two people out-of-the-way with two hands planted on each back, just returning from the bathroom. He was also surprised to find Caleb just sitting there quietly with his arms crossed, wearing a white tuxedo.

The man struck the first blow... well at least he tried to, because Gabriel just side-glided out of the way as though he'd done it before. Keita started laughing and Kirito just threw his arms up in the air. "Whoo!" The elder teen shouted and then patted Keita on the shoulder. "When we first got here, I was kind of disappointed in my idol... and because I knew how much he valued pride. I asked him what he would do if he were challenged to a duel... he had no weapon at the time you see." Kirito began and then turned his head back to Gabriel and Uraniwa. The man was throwing his weight around and desperately trying to strike Gabriel down with a single blow. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. "You want to know what he said?"

Keita just nodded quickly. "I'd accept and probably win." Kirito smirked slightly, "I didn't believe him at first.

Gabriel ducked, twisted, turned, adjusted and finally when the man stopped to recuperate he executed the trademark dance he had practised for so long to get right. He folded his arms behind his head and began. ( watch?v=Ev6UsqYX-Z4 Click or CopynPaste to be enlightened. An explanation would only confuse you).

Then came the cheers as his Oniichan openly mocked a member of a guild he so very hated.

Keita covered his eyes, everyone else just laughed lightheartedly.

"You ready?" Gabriel asked, he didn't even look tired, or fatigued.


	18. Chapter 17: Continuation!

SAO Chap 17: Duel of Duels II

Gabriel sighed deeply and reacted before the strike even came because the man was so predictable and did not change his style of attack, or even the attack pattern. Perhaps he was just trying to prevent Gabriel from getting an opening on the Lord. Keita forgot the man's name already, and he simply left it at that. So he turned to Kirito, and smiled brightly. "So how was the break?" He asked the bestest player and nicest friend in the whole world. Whom in turn just adjusted his fingerless gloves with a content smile on his face.

"Oh... uhm, it was..." He grinned, "...I'm not sure how to describe it but... we got married, we went fishing, we cooked stuff... and most importantly... we found and adopted a girl." He held a finger to his lips to try and maintain secrecy, he even went as far as to whisper over the music that was playing. However, in Keita's peripheral vision he noticed Caleb's eyes flick towards the both of them, and then back at the fight. So he had been listening. He just hoped he didn't tell Gabriel... especially right now because he'd most likely make a slurred and intoxicated but cheesy speech about how Kirito was now a father and that he had his support.

THWACK!

The heads of the duo suddenly snapped back to the fight and Gabriel was now rubbing his knuckles, and more importantly: a KO message was displayed above the unconscious body of Gabriel's challenger.

Gabriel starte stumbling over to the small group of founders, only small because it lacked an important member. Keita wondered where she was now. Asuna that is.

"Keeeei-chan!" Gabriel started laughing as he reached out diabolically for his little brother and...

HUG!

"You look great today! I'm so proud of you!" He said with slurred speech, and Keita felt the heat build up in his face with the 'awwwws' of the entire room filled with over three-hundred players. He didn't mind when Gabriel hugged and complimented him... but he really didn't like it when it happened in public... especially not today... because he was drunk. "I know how hard it was for you... but don't worry Keita... I won't ever let anything happen to you... and I'll never leave you on your own to fend for yourself." He said quietly and Caleb just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay Older and more responsible brother... time to go to sleep." He reached over for Gabriel's shoulder and patted him gently, he didn't respond at first so Caleb took the initiative and started to peel-him off by force.

"That goes for the rest of you! All of you! No matter what the cost... even if it's my very own life... I'll beat this game, and save you and your bodies in the real world! Nothing will stop me!" He rose his voice to a shout and he earned a lot of nods, chuckles and claps of understanding. Some were still solemn, maybe a few didn't want to be saved because they liked it here... Keita smiled. He liked it here, but in order to keep on living he'd have to let go of this world, it wasn't safe to be here and every passing day brought them another day closer to bodily death. Where their bodies just gives up on living after losing so much muscle and weight due to not moving or eating much while in Sword Art Online.

Keita watched as Caleb guided Gabriel out of the room, the being trapped here instead of being able to log out each day must've been hard on Gabriel because he smiled less than usual nowadays and rarely ever expressed his genuine emotions or how he felt, of course... Gabriel never actually smiles he just smirks . Today he did it because he was drunk and his judgement was impaired, but Gabriel never told a lie. So he was genuinely proud of Keita. He felt his eyes start to grow hot and he sniffled, his vision blurred, and finally the black-haired younger sibling of Gabriel started to cry happily, because he was proud of the fact that his Oniichan was proud of him.

CLANG CLANG CLASH CLANG BANG SMASH!

"OH MY GOD!"

_**A/N: What the hell just happened?! Stay to tuned to find out in the next Chapter of SAO: Brotherhood!**_

_**Gabriel: -is drunk- Oh... I'msh tell'yesh what 'appened. Whut 'appened is...**_

_**-This broadcast has been interrupted-**_


	19. Chapter 18: Kissed a boy, Liked it?

Chapter 18: I kissed a boy, and I liked it!

"Gabriel!"

CRASH!

"Gabriel!"

CLANG!

"STOP, WAIT, NO!"

Kirito looked at Keita with a somewhat concerned expression. "Kirito!" She called to him, and Kirito's head suddenly turned his head away from the tear soaked face of Keita. "Get over here!" She shouted and the clangs and crashes, and smashes continued. Everyone turned towards the door and suddenly... a Black and Red garbed figure came crashing through. He was thrown on his back and was sent sliding across the floor. He suddenly fell unconscious and started snoring loudly on the center of the dance floor. Keita sniffled and wiped his eyes, as his vision cleared he realized that it was Gabriel. At the door were several members of the crossed swords. "What are they doing here?" He turned to look at Kirito, only to find that he was gone. "Hwuh?" Keita sounded confused but turned again to see him standing at the door Gabriel had been knocked back from. This didn't look good. Kirito already had his sword drawn and Caleb was moving to stand beside Kirito.

"Your little ruse is over, 'Brotherhood'." The front member of the crossed swords shouted and extended his arms with overwhelming ego. Keita honestly thought they were good people... but seeing as how they treated his brother like this. They weren't nice or good at all, especially not the guy in the front. "Hey why is that boy in the back wearing a skirt?!" One of the Brotherhood members shouted.

The one who was being teased had his cheeks flush red and he stammered as he force the words out. "I-it's n-not a Skirt! It's a Kilt!" He shouted, and it echoed throughout the room. The music had been stopped entirely with the invasion of the Crossed Swords. An Green guild that was welcome to come and join this party.

Keita stood up and ran over to Gabriel, who's eyes were wide open as he snored, and Keita just poked him in the cheek, "Wow... that's kind of weird." Keita started to giggle and Gabriel suddenly gasped for air, and grabbed Keita's wrist.

"Oh my god! What happened Keita, am I dead? What's going on... all I remember is this weird dream about this really nice looking girl wearing a pinkish skirt." Gabriel gasped for air and gripped his throat. He must've been parched. The amount of dehydrating and debilitating poison/alcohol must've really took it out of his stamina. Keita was honestly suprised to say that Gabriel was conscious and sober right now. In the real world, he'd be down and out for the next year and a half.

"Need some water to wash the taste down?" Keita nodded at one of the individuals also known as waiters who were serving cold beverages. He took a glass and handed it to Gabriel, the waiter's expression was all-knowing. Gabriel was leaving out one important detail. "Did I get-" He stopped mid sentence then the white-haired and eldest teen of the Founders slowly touched his lips. Gabriel blinked a couple of times, and finally after a brief pause his eyes grew softer and Keita could see the redness in his Oniichan's cheeks.

'Oh my gosh... what happened to Gabriel?' Keita thought to himself and studied the facial expression. 'Infatuation? He's Capable of that?' Keita wondered and then sighed deeply, "Oniichan?" Keita asked suddenly, unsure of what action to take.

Gabriel lifted a single finger for Keita to wait while he slowly got back to his feet. "I'm fine..." He scanned the room. "Wait..." His Oniichan turned head towards the group of Crossed Swords and finally went hyper-alert the passive and Gabriel's version of a lovestruck expression had been phased out in mere seconds. Then suddenly... the color from his face drained, his eyes went wide, the constantly straight-lipped mouth opened and his jaw dropped with complete... and utter... horror. "K-k-keita... who is that?" He pointed at the boy in the skirt who was standing among the crossed swords wearing a grimace. Keita smacked himself on the forehead.

"Oops! I meant Kilt." He told himself aloud and then let his shoulders hang with some embarassment. "Oops. I meant he's a member of the crossed swords." Keita beamed with an apologetic, but at the same time: 'happy to help' smile.

"He?" Gabriel seemed to hiss and suddenly drank the beverage in one gulp and then turned to grip Keita by the shoulders. His eyes were bloodshot and Keita gulped suddenly as he found himself staring in the empty caramel-void that were Gabriel's eyes. "Keita... if I turn... I want you to be the one who kills-"

Keita headbutt him in the nose and ran off.

"Ow." He started rubbing his nose and stared at the marble floor, come to think of it. The floor was actually pretty nice a drop of water glittered in this lighting, he wondered what the source was, a tear perhaps- he shook his head quickly. "KEITA!" He shouted and started running after his little brother.

Caleb simply ran after Gabriel, "Did you peace the puzzle together yet?" Caleb asked him and as they crashed through the crowd and another side-door Gabriel nodded.

"I Kissed a boy, and I liked it!" His voice sounded horrified and shaky, sweat was on his forehead and he wondered what the hell Keita was thinking.


	20. Chapter 19: Turnament Tournament

Chapter Nineteen:

Kirito chuckled nervously as his support, aside from Asuna ran off to go find Keita. "Asuna..."

"Hm?" She looked happy when she turned her head.

"What do we do now?"

"Listen to what we have to say!" The Lord of the Crossed sword drew his blade and pointed it at Kirito,  
then Asuna. This caused a slight twitching of Kirito's eyebrow because he hated being pointed at.

Asuna smiled as she nodded her head. "We listen to what Lord We has to stay."

Kirito smirked, and nodded as well. "Alright then, what do you have to say?" He asked the Lord, he  
probably should've made fun of that title mentally, like somebody was reading his thoughts. He  
shrugged suddenly and they just looked at him.

"Right! I'm Lord Tyras of the Crossed Swords and we demand that your guild shut down and leave the  
premises immediately. Failure to do so peacefully will result in a duel tournament, decide the outcome.  
Which is negotiable!" He raised the blade and pointed it harder, extending his arm as far as it would go  
and even going as far as to lean forward a bit. Kirito raised an eyebrow and looked at Asuna. They  
just started laughing.

The man looked abashed and took a humiliated step back. "What is the meaning of this?! Take me  
seriously! With your newest guild more players have begun to join your brotherhood and have false  
hopes and dreams of leaving this world. Kayaba made sure that we had no way to escape this world  
without sustaining heavy casualties! Do all of thou think that you're exempt from this?!" He stomped an  
enraged foot and Kirito just shrugged then looked behind him at the members of the brotherhood that  
slowly began to form a semicircle around the members of the Crossed Swords.

"Come forth then! It will take every last one of you hooligans to even lay a scratch on me!" He  
shouted.

Kirito tried to stop himself from laughing even harder and even the rest of the Brotherhood members  
just started chuckling. "What's your level 'Lord' Tyras?" He seemed to mock, and wore an expression  
that obviously declared how unseriously he took the lord.

"Fourty-nine." That earned a lot of instant laughs from the entire room, all were individuals who were  
skillers or combatants that were making an effort to clear the newest floors.

"I am level ninety-six, Kirito, The Alleged Black Swordsman and Raid-master of The-Brotherhood,  
whilst holding the status of Founder." He declared and Asuna nodded her head.

"And I am Level eighty-nine, Asuna the Master-Trainer of The-Brotherhood and also holding the status  
of Founder."

The next sentence was stated in unison. "And we accept your challenged on the terms that our guild's  
best fighters participate in a duel-Tournament... in which the winner assimilates or earns the  
cooperation of the loser's guild."

Lord Tyras' face was red with outrage. "We accept the terms of Full-scale assimilation and Five  
fighters will fight each other in battle!" He shouted and sounded a lot more regal than he should've. It  
made Kirito wonder how seriously the crossed sword took- he ended that thought be he knew just how  
seriously they took their guild.

"Fair enough." Kirito stated and sheathed his sword. "For now... how about you enjoy the party?" He  
asked with a light-hearted smile. That was weird. If Gabriel was here, he'd feel the impulse to kick them  
out but seeing as how he had run off to chase his little brother... Kirito would allow them to stay.  
Seeing as how he had that authority anyway. As long as the Crossed swords did not cause any sort  
of trouble.

Meanwhile in a large room not too far away from the Great Hall...

"Keita! Get down from there!" Gabriel shouted at his angry-looking younger brother. Gabriel was  
afraid, for the first time since forever. He lacked the ability to figure out what to do and had no idea  
how to handle this situation. He collapsed to his knees and then fell onto his face and curled up into  
the fetal position, and finally to top it all off. The white-haired boy started hyper-ventilating at the  
feet of his younger twin. Who just jammed a boot into his ribs.

"Come on! You were doing fine... it's not like you just kissed a boy while you were intoxicated and are  
completely incompetent... in the sense that you have no idea how to get Keita down from some  
chandelier in the middle of the main porch of this headquarters." He said and nearly started laughing,  
but he did manage to maintain at least some semblance of seriousness.

"Oh!" Gabriel groaned, "Leave me... go on without me... you have to save Keita from the danger! Fly my  
obnoxiously sarcastic twin! Obtain my little brother!" He shouted and managed to point at Keita, who  
was still directly above them, and the shift in weight from earlier when Keita jumped upon on the  
Chandelier was still obvious as the decoration slowly swayed back and forth. Keita didn't move and  
he hugged his legs as he sat in what looked like an uncomfortable position. Caleb sighed and wondered  
what was the matter with the boy.

Still, he wasn't about to jump up there and dangle on the chandelier with his twin brother's, adopted  
son, he fought back a smirk. "Keita!" Caleb raised his voice and started waving. He called for several  
minutes straight and after a spree of no response from Keita, Caleb finally smiled and tilted his head  
as Keita slowly turned his head with rage-filled eyes and a stern face.

"WHAT?!" Keita shouted, rose to a stand and the chandelier suddenly crashed to the floor with a loud  
smash, bang and the accompanied noises of Chandelier making contact with solid object like marble  
floor.

Gabriel and the rest of them were knocked out by the impact and the last thing Gabriel heard and saw  
before losing consciousness completely was several pairs of footsteps, and the gorgeous eyes of-

About an hour later...

Keita held a pack of ice against his forehead and sighed deeply as he looked at the unconscious  
Gabriel that was laying in a massive king-sized bed. He turned his head to Caleb, who just smiled  
lightheartedly. He had a habit of doing that at the worst possible times. "Why do you always smile?"  
Keita grumbled, and averted his eyes as he asked the question. Then the emotion was gone from Caleb's  
face almost as fast as Gabriel would've done.

"I thought it was a pretty nice change from looking the same as him all the time." He failed to keep the  
straight face for more than five seconds and started snickering. "No... because I'm a lot happier and I  
don't have as much life experience at him... I also have zero self-discipline and no regard for taking  
anything seriously at all." He said, and beamed a smile.

Keita sighed deeply. "Gabriel's smiles are better than yours."

Caleb fought the impulse to backhand a thirteen year old across the face, because he didn't know how  
else to react. Perhaps he could just play it cool. "NO!" He shouted and slammed his fist on the table,  
his face was red with embarassment as he failed himself yet again. "What's your problem anyways?  
All he wanted was for you to kill him if his sexual orientation happened to change due to the  
infection- okay maybe it's a little extreme, but that's no reason to run off and- okay maybe it is."  
Caleb grumbled.

Keita looked at him, his eyebrow twitched slightly. "My best friend at school is... y'know." He grumbled.

"Oh. So he's your boyfriend?" Caleb started snickering and smirked.

Keita slammed his forehead on the table. "I don't know how you came to that conclusion but the  
answer is no... I'm just his first ever supporter." Keita stated.

Caleb raised a hand for Keita to stop. "Okay... you know what... this chapter of our story just got a  
little weird... how the hell does Gabriel even get that drunk and why did he kiss a member of the  
crossed swords... how drunk was he anyways?! Was he even drunk?! IS HE SECRETLY... No..." Caleb's  
voice sounded horrified. Suddenly, out of the blue Gabriel slowly sat up from the bed to stare emptily  
at Caleb, his face was pale and he looked sick. Dark circles surrounded his eyes and he looked like he  
was pretty much dead... it even looked like he lost fifty pounds. Gabriel started coughing erratically.

His voice sounded even worse than he looked, "What time and day is it?" His usual smooth voice had  
been degraded and it sounded like sandpaper completely destroyed his vocal cords.

Caleb tried to hide to concern and disgust at the same time and it came off as: "ZOMBIE! KEITA! HELP!"  
Caleb flailed his arms and ran out of the room, running into the door and stumbling facefirst into the  
wall opposite to the door that was the exit of Gabriel's personal quarters.

Keita sipped tea from the cup with a sophisticated and intricate design. "11:07 AM," Keita stated bluntly,  
still not impressed with Gabriel's behavior... but he was honestly kind of concerned about his health.

"Okay... then don't worry... I'll be fine for the next couple hours. At which point I'll turn... unless I can  
find a cure." He seemed to whisper as he tried to stand. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed but  
as he slid off to his feet, he fell facefirst into the floor with a loud crack. "Don't worry... I didn't  
want to walk anyways... I need to work on my arm strength anyway..." He started dragging himself  
across the floor, and Keita's left eye started to twitch furiously, Gabriel groaned with the effort and  
Keita's imagination started to run wild... he turned to his Oniichan who looked directly at him, blood  
streamed from his eye sockets and he started coughing. The red liquid poured from his mouth and onto  
the floor with a sickening and wet sound.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Keita screamed ad ran out of the room.

Gabriel passed out and started twitching.


	21. Chapter 20: Stuff, Sick

Chapter 20: Quarantine and Stuff.

"Status of Subject One is Green. Subject is displaying no signs of aggression and is cooperating fully." The figure stated, wearing a black gasmask, and a player-made hazmat suit in the room of Gabriel the founder. He was laying on what appeared to be a hospital bed breathing softly and three other figures all stood around him with the first closing the door. "Why did this happen... to me?" He croaked and started coughing again. They all unequipped their hazmat suits in near-synchronization to reveal the faces of Asuna, Caleb, Kirito, and Keita.

"Oh come on Gabriel... we all know you're perfectly fine. You've just got an ingame cold from making physical contact with another player. An infection apparently. It makes me wonder why Akihiko even designed this game if it's pretty much like real life... with all the sicknesses and stuff." Caleb stated and started to go off on a tangent... rambling incoherently to the entire room.

Gabriel's eyes widened with suprise. "Oh... thank god... I'm alright..." He nearly started sobbing. "Oh the crossed swords didn't stop me... they didn't end my life and make me miserable yet... I'm fine." The tears of joy and relief streamed down his face.

"Hwuh?" Keita asked, and Caleb just rolled his eyes.

"It's a long story." Caleb stated and Kirito just let out an all-knowing grin. Being Gabriel's number one fan and best-friend. He had to know.

"Oh... well you're not a good storyteller anyways. I'd rather hear it from Oniichan!" Keita smiled innocently, and his expression held no semblance of deceit or lies. It was also an indication that he held nothing against Caleb. Which was absolutely heart-wrenching. Caleb wiped his eyes and sniffled suddenly.

"What's your problem man?" Caleb asked and started crying just as much as Gabriel, but he made an effort to hide it with his arm.

"Hm?" Keita turned his head and the regret for what he said was obvious. He didn't mean to make Caleb feel bad about his incompetance and inability to tell stories as effectively as his twin. "Oh..." Keita whispered. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"That's why it hurts so much."

Keita sighed deeply and Kirito just patted Caleb on the back. "It's okay... you're a great story teller but you know... Gabriel may have told a lot more stories than you which means that he's ultimately better." Kirito smiled and Caleb just nodded slowly, it still burned though.

"I hate living in my older brother's shadow... why does he always have to be better at everything than me? Well actually... it's not so bad." Caleb mumbled sighed dreamily.

"I'm still alive you know." Gabriel stated and slowly sat up, sniffling quietly, though his expression didn't look much happier or depressed than usually, his skin was pale the black circles around his eyes were more prominent than before but Keita wasn't imagining that stuff from before now. He knew for a fact that Gabriel was alright.

Caleb's cheeks turned red. "No you're not... no you're not..." He whispered and covered Gabriel's eyes and patted his chest as he laid his brother down to rest. "Sh sh sh sh sh." He said, with a warm smile and the rest of the founders just set there curious gazes on him. "What?" Caleb asked.

"You seem awfully close to your brother... as a matter of fact... you seem awfully close to anyone that you meet. What's up with that?" Asuna asked him, speaking for the first time in quite some time. It caught Caleb off guard and he turned his head to answer right away but a different part of his mind spoke first.

"You have gorgeous hair... I can imagine it tasting like hot peppermint with the same sort of smell-" He winced suddenly, "Sorry... there's this thing concerning my psychological state. Where I like everything except body hair." He stated bluntly, and sighed deeply because of how it sounded.

Asuna smiled slightly at the compliment, but Caleb felt like he could've said something a lot cooler and sweeter than that... maybe it was just the involuntary psychological attraction and impulse to say something without thinking that was the deciding factor. "What do you mean concerning your psychological state?" She asked him.

"It's supposed to be a secret. So promise you won't tell anyone..." He rose from Gabriel's snoring corpse and sighed deeply. "Psychologically speaking I'm attracted to everything and everyone except people that look like my dad..." He shivered at the memories of his father's appearance. "Arm hair, chest hair, facial hair, leg hair... and the angry expression or smell of alcohol. Probably has something to do with brainwashing." He let out an annoyed sigh and the three of them just started snickering... at first anyway.

"Wait a second... does that mean you have a crush on..."

Caleb's cheeks burned bright red and he slammed a fist on his twin brother's abdomen who just started wheezing for air. "Shut up! Shut it! Shut up!" He growled then got to his feet and left the room. "It's not like I have a choice!" He slammed the door on his way out.

The three of them started snickering like delinquents that had just done something they knew they shouldn't have. "No wonder Gabriel acts so uneasy around him... do you think that-" Gabriel grabbed Kirito by the collar of his shirt and pulled him close until they were pretty much face to face.

"No, Caleb is a good brother, it's not his fault and he has rules set for himself... but to answer your question, he likes everything just as much as he likes me... but he's taken a particular liking for Chocolate because it was a present I got him for his birthday... Pretty much like infatuation." He stated and groaned as he let Kirito go, the pain he was enduring... a headache enhanced by the constant coughing, and finally the fist being slammed into his abdomen oh what a miserable state, Kirito understood.

Kirito's expression went back to its serious state once again and he nodded slowly. "Roger." He saluted and dragged the other two out of the room to the great-hall in order for them to witness the duel that was supposed to take place between an individual named Caleb, and the individual that looked like he had been a butler in the real world. Judging by the serious expression, stature and classy method of dressing. Kirito could only imagine how he looked in a woman's gown during the intitiation period that decided their position in the guild. The Crossed Swords were an obnoxious guild, their initiations were sickening and they consisted of several thousand 'Cross-dressers' globally. They even... corrupt the younglings. He shuddered with discomfort.

"Hey..." Gabriel whispered. "What was up with the hazmat suits?"

Kirito laughed nervously and Keita just snickered, "I don't know, we just thought it'd be cool... like in the movies you know, and we never really had the chance to wear those things anyway," he shrugged and left the room as quickly as possible.


End file.
